More than 350,000 passengers flying to and from Amsterdam Schiphol – including tens of thousands from the UK – have now had their flights cancelled as a result of extreme wintry weather. On the sixth day of flight chaos at the Dutch hub, the home airline KLM is warning it could run out of de-icing fluid.
In the UK, the Met Office warns: “The current cold snap continues, before a deep area of low pressure threatens to bring further snow, strong winds and heavy rain to southern parts of the UK from Thursday night.”
Here is everything you need to know.
Air travel
For flyers, mass cancellations to and from Amsterdam Schiphol airport are continuing for a sixth day due to snow and ice. KLM has grounded 600 flights to and from its hub on Wednesday. The Dutch national airline warned on Tuesday evening: “Persistent snow is expected tomorrow morning, combined with a strong southerly to southeasterly wind.
“KLM has therefore had to cancel 600 flights for Wednesday. By making this decision now, we can provide our passengers with timely clarity and prevent last-minute flight cancellations, leaving travellers stranded at Schiphol.
“Many KLM colleagues, including office staff and crew, are making extra efforts to assist our passengers at Schiphol as best as possible.
More than 100 KLM flights to and from the UK are cancelled on Wednesday. At least four services to and from Aberdeen, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Heathrow, Humberside, Leeds Bradford, London City, Manchester, Newcastle and Norwich have been grounded.
British Airways has cancelled 10 flights linking Heathrow with Amsterdam, and a round-trip from London City.
The airport says: “Due to persistent winter weather, only limited air traffic is possible to and from Schiphol. Our snow crews are working around the clock to keep the runways clear, and aircraft are being carefully de-iced to ensure everyone can travel safely.
“However, the wintry conditions are expected to cause disruptions to the flight schedule in the coming days.”
With some understatement, the airport adds: “This may result in delays and cancellations.”
On Tuesday afternoon, KLM warned that supplies of de-icing fluid were “under pressure”. The Dutch airline said: “Due to a combination of extreme weather conditions and delays in supply from the provider, stock levels are running low.
“The supplier, based in Germany, is currently unable to guarantee timely replenishment. This challenge is currently widespread across Europe.
“De-icing is performed with a mixture of heated water and glycol. Every departing aircraft must be completely free of snow and ice before it can safely take off. KLM operates a fleet of 25 de-icing trucks, all of which have been in continuous use since Friday.”
Under air passengers’ rights rules, travellers whose flights are cancelled or severely delayed are entitled to be flown to their destination as soon as possible on any airline, and to be provided with meals and hotels until they get there.
Anyone reaching Amsterdam will find their problems are only beginning. Dutch Railways is running only a skeleton timetable and warns passengers: “Please allow for extra travel time, more frequent transfers and crowded trains.
“Are you travelling abroad? Start your journey earlier and plan extra times”
Many of the passengers whose journey plans via Amsterdam are disrupted have been rerouted through Paris CDG – but the French hub is now covered with heavy snow.
The French Civil Aviation Authority, the DGAC, has ordered airlines to cancel 40 per cent of flights on Wednesday.
Passengers on Air France are worst affected, with at least 76 flights cancelled so far – including links to and from Heathrow, Birmingham and Newcastle. Further cancellations are expected.
British Airways has grounded a single round-trip from Heathrow, while easyJet has cancelled a flight to and from Venice.
The second airport in the French capital, Paris Orly, has been turning flights away because of severe snow. Many flights, including longhaul arrivals from the Caribbean, have been diverted to more southerly airports – particularly Lyon and Marseille, but also Toulouse, Bordeaux and Basel. They are unable to divert to Paris CDG because of restrictions on movements at the leading French airport.
Other flights, including from Milan Linate and Madrid, returned to their starting points.
One Iberia departure from Madrid to Paris Orly initially diverted to London Heathrow – but ended up in Luton instead after holding for 45 minutes above Kent.
Rail travel
Eurostar, which runs trains between London St Pancras International and Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris, has warned of “severe delays and last-minute cancellations”.
All the morning trains between London and Paris are delayed, some by over an hour. An early evening round-trip between the two cities has been cancelled.
One service from Amsterdam via Brussels to London is being started at the Belgian capital.The train operator warns: “Due to adverse weather conditions on the Eurostar network, our trains are likely to be subject to severe delays and last-minute cancellations.”
Railways in the far north of Scotland are still blocked by snow. ScotRail trains on key lines in the north of the country have been cancelled due to heavy and drifting snow north of Lairg and on the entire Inverness-Kyle of Lochalsh line.
LNER is advising passengers not to travel between Edinburgh and Aberdeen as the rail firm cannot “guarantee a service will run until Friday 9 January at the earliest”.
Further south, LNER terminated an early Edinburgh-London King’s Cross train at Newcastle “due to heavy snow”. Other services on the East Coast Main Line have been cancelled or curtailed “due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time”.
In southeast England, rush-hour rail passengers face another morning of disruption on the Elizabeth and Great Western lines to and from London Paddington due to overrunning engineering work.
In South Yorkshire, another theft of signalling cables between Doncaster and Sheffield means that some lines are disrupted. As a result, trains will have to run at reduced speeds on some lines. Trains may be delayed up to 30 minutes or cancelled.
Roads
Roads in northern Scotland are severely disrupted and many routes are only passable with extreme care. Traffic Scotland has closed the A93 Perth-Aberdeen road between Braemar and the Spittal of Glenshee turn-off. The A939 linking Nairn on the Moray coast with the Grampians remains closed.
In Cumbria the main north-south route through the Lake District, the A591, is closed because of ice between Keswick and Grasmere. The A57 Snake Pass in Derbyshire is also closed.
In Wales, the Horseshoe Pass on the A542 is closed.
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