Continued heavy snowfall and low temperatures are keeping many passengers, en route to holiday destinations, stranded in airports across Western Europe.
Over the weekend major airports in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium were closed for incoming and outgoing flights, forcing thousands of passengers to stay at hotels or in the airports.
Belgium recorded its 18th day of snowfall since beginning of November, marking a new record since 1945. Snow accumulation killed one person when a barn roof collapsed under the snow's weight.
Ice caused by minus 2-degree temperatures in the U.K. kept thousands of passengers overnight at London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports, BBC reported.
According to AFP, Frankfurt Airport canceled 540 flights, 6,000 passengers spent the night in Parisan airport terminals, 1,500 spent Sunday night at Brussels Airport, and a few hundred in Amsterdam.
It is not clear about when flights will return to normal operation, but the backlog will cause delays well into the week leading up to Dec. 25.
"We are in the hands of the weather," a BAA airline spokeswoman told BBC.
