Munich Airport Closes Again Due to Snow, Sleet
Bavaria's main air hub was closed on Tuesday morning, with freezing conditions and heavy snowfall expected to wreak transport chaos.
Bavaria's main air hub was closed on Tuesday morning, with freezing conditions and heavy snowfall expected to wreak transport chaos. Munich Airport had already been forced to shut down on the weekend.Munich Airport announced all flights would be canceled on Tuesday morning, with further cancellations expected throughout the day.
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Heavy snowfall also led to significant traffic disruptions in parts of southern Germany over the weekend when the airport was also forced to close along with the Bavarian capital's main train station.
What the airport said
Munich Airport said there would be no takeoffs and landings from the start of operations at 6 a.m. (0500 UTC/GMT) until midday.
"The reason for this is the forecast freezing rain in the night from Monday to Tuesday, which is expected to make safe flight operations impossible in the morning."
"The operating areas will be de-iced in the first half of the day. The plan is to allow air traffic to resume from midday."
"However, it can be assumed that the majority of flights will also have to be canceled during the rest of the day for safety reasons."
The airport advised passengers to contact their airlines before traveling to the airport to find out the status of their flights.
At least 150 takeoffs and 160 landings were directly hit by the closure, with some 770 departure and arrival flights in total scheduled for the day.
Following the weekend winter weather, flights at the airport were suspended on Saturday and only able to resume on Sunday.
Train connections also hit buffers
Local trains and buses and trams also stopped running, with authorities in many municipalities urging people to stay at home for safety reasons.
German rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) warned in a statement on Monday that, as it struggled to deal with the effects of the weekend's heavy snow and frost, passengers would still have to expect major restrictions on train traffic.
DB announced that passengers would have to expect restrictions until at least Wednesday.
In the greater Munich area alone, more than 80 overhead line faults had to be repaired on Monday.
The operator said all trains on the Munich to Salzburg, Munich to Innsbruck, and Munich - Lindau/Zurich routes were currently canceled.
In addition, it said only a few long-distance trains were running to Munich's main station to which access is limited.
The operator advised would-be passengers to postpone their trips to and from Munich.
Edited by: Louis Oelofse
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(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 05, 2023 11:40 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).