Anger mounts as snow brings more travel chaos to Europe
Source: Agencies |
December 21, 2010, Tuesday
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FRUSTRATED travelers in Europe expressed fury yesterday at transport officials' inability to clear snow and ice from planes, runways and high-speed train tracks, failings that have caused holiday travel chaos and fears that many will not get home in time for Christmas.
The continent's worst bottleneck was London's Heathrow Airport, where thousands of travelers were stranded overnight as flight cancellations increased even as other major European airports resumed normal operations after several days of -weather delays.
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, summed up much of the exasperation as Britain suffered another day of travel setbacks.
"It can't be beyond the wit of man surely to find the shovels, the diggers, the snow-ploughs or whatever it takes to clear the snow out from under the planes, to get the planes moving and to have more than one runway going," he said as British Airways canceled yesterday's short-haul schedule from Heathrow.
Air traffic control agency -Eurocontrol said yesterday on its website that the situation at Heathrow had become "chaotic."
Embarrassed British officials promised an inquiry into the poor performance of the transport network, with Transport Secretary Philip Hammond planning to address Parliament about the failures, which included massive delays on the Eurostar rail service, which links Britain to mainland Europe.
At Heathrow's sprawling Terminal 5, tired and disgruntled passengers faced long waits with little information.
American Suzie Devoe, 20, was one of many who had spent two nights sleeping on the airport floor in a bid to get home for the holidays. She was desperately trying to rearrange a flight so she could get back to Washington to spend Christmas with her family. "The whole situation has been a complete nightmare," she said. "I just want to get home, I want to be with my family. But I'm being held in limbo."
Hundreds of passengers camped overnight in Heathrow terminal b-uildings after flight services were canceled or delayed.
The strain was also felt at Brussels Airport, which is facing a shortage of de-icing liquid and could not guarantee -departures for planes that need -de-icing until at least midnight tonight, the airport said yesterday in its Twitter feed.
The airport said that the shortage is due to transportation problems in France, adding that "the weather forecast is not so positive."
In Germany, flight operations were slowed even though Frankfurt airport, Germany's biggest, was clear of snow and ice. Officials canceled about 300 flights there yesterday, out of a planned total of 1,340, because of problems elsewhere in Europe, airport operator Fraport said.
The continent's worst bottleneck was London's Heathrow Airport, where thousands of travelers were stranded overnight as flight cancellations increased even as other major European airports resumed normal operations after several days of -weather delays.
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, summed up much of the exasperation as Britain suffered another day of travel setbacks.
"It can't be beyond the wit of man surely to find the shovels, the diggers, the snow-ploughs or whatever it takes to clear the snow out from under the planes, to get the planes moving and to have more than one runway going," he said as British Airways canceled yesterday's short-haul schedule from Heathrow.
Air traffic control agency -Eurocontrol said yesterday on its website that the situation at Heathrow had become "chaotic."
Embarrassed British officials promised an inquiry into the poor performance of the transport network, with Transport Secretary Philip Hammond planning to address Parliament about the failures, which included massive delays on the Eurostar rail service, which links Britain to mainland Europe.
At Heathrow's sprawling Terminal 5, tired and disgruntled passengers faced long waits with little information.
American Suzie Devoe, 20, was one of many who had spent two nights sleeping on the airport floor in a bid to get home for the holidays. She was desperately trying to rearrange a flight so she could get back to Washington to spend Christmas with her family. "The whole situation has been a complete nightmare," she said. "I just want to get home, I want to be with my family. But I'm being held in limbo."
Hundreds of passengers camped overnight in Heathrow terminal b-uildings after flight services were canceled or delayed.
The strain was also felt at Brussels Airport, which is facing a shortage of de-icing liquid and could not guarantee -departures for planes that need -de-icing until at least midnight tonight, the airport said yesterday in its Twitter feed.
The airport said that the shortage is due to transportation problems in France, adding that "the weather forecast is not so positive."
In Germany, flight operations were slowed even though Frankfurt airport, Germany's biggest, was clear of snow and ice. Officials canceled about 300 flights there yesterday, out of a planned total of 1,340, because of problems elsewhere in Europe, airport operator Fraport said.
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