Grounded European flights add to Christmas travel woes
LONDON (AFP) – Mass flight cancellations heaped fresh misery on European travellers yesterday, as the freezing weather that has caused at least 90 deaths on the continent brought chaos to Christmas holiday plans.
Passengers stranded by snow-blocked roads, delayed trains and a three-day suspension of the Eurostar rail service found little relief at airports as icy runways were closed and heavy snow grounded hundreds of flights.
At least 90 people have died in winter storms across Europe, including 10 in Poland in the last day, the majority of them homeless men. Temperatures there have plunged to minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus four degrees Fahrenheit).
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And there looks to be more bad weather on the way -- Britain expected to be hit by more snow across Scotland and northern England late Tuesday.
While Eurostar resumed a limited service on Tuesday, EasyJet cancelled more than 200 flights due to the "significant snowfall" and airport closures across Europe, while Irish carrier Ryanair grounded about 65 flights.
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