Snow, icy runways and frozen planes have led to over one hundred delays and dozens of cancellations at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. “We expect a disrupted flight schedule for the rest of today due to weather conditions”, a spokesperson for the airport told Aviation24.
Besides reducing the operational capacity of the runways, the low temperatures, combined with “limited de-icing capacity”, have also made it difficult for planes to be ready for flights, KLM warned on its website. “The cold winter weather is leading to adjustments to the timetable, because planes have to be de-iced before departure”, an airline spokeswoman explained for aviation news site Luchtvaartnieuws.
As the winter weather conditions continue, there is yet no concrete number of affected flights, however most of the routes operated from the airport, mainly intra-European, have been delayed. According to Euronews, among others, flights to Aalborg, Barcelona, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Helsinki, London and Stuttgart have been scrapped altogether.
The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) has issued a cold yellow warning for snow and slippery conditions sue to freezing of wet roads across most of the country. As forecasts are predicting temperatures to remain on the verge of negative until the weekend, accompanied by snow, it is unclear when the airport will be decongested.
Meanwhile, Brussels Airport is also bracing for similar conditions for tomorrow (17 January), as 10 cm of snow are expected to fall in the Belgian capital in the early hours of Wednesday. “Our winter operations teams are making every effort to minimise the impact on the airport. Due to de-icing of aircraft and de-icing and snow clearance of runways, some flights may be delayed. Road traffic to and from the airport may also be affected”, the airport said in a statement. Brussels Airport is also asking passengers to check the status of their flight before heading to the airport tomorrow and make sure to leave early enough that they catch their flight in case roads will be congested due to the snow.
