The travel chaos to expect as snow and ice hit Britain
Flights across Europe have been cancelled, while travellers by rail and road face severe disruption
Fransebas
Tens of thousands of UK airline passengers have had their travel plans torn up as flights are cancelled, while travellers by rail and road face severe disruption as the Met Office issues amber warnings.
Here is everything you need to know.
Air travel
For flyers, mass cancellations to and from Amsterdam Schiphol airport have continued for a fourth day due to snow and ice. Around 70 flights between the Dutch hub and UK airports on KLM have been cancelled. Many routes have seen at least six flights grounded, including Aberdeen, Birmingham, Humberside, Leeds Bradford, London City and Norwich.
The Dutch airline is telling passengers: “Due to severe winter weather, including snow and strong winds, flights at Amsterdam airport Schiphol are disrupted. We understand this may be stressful, but we are doing all we can to help you on your way again.”
For some smaller airports, links to Amsterdam are the only international flights of the day.
EasyJet has grounded at least 16 flights to and from the Dutch airport on Monday. British Airways has cancelled 10 flights so far linking Heathrow and London City with Amsterdam.
Belfast International airport is experiencing severe disruption. On Sunday evening, dozens of flights were cancelled or diverted. The easyJet flight from Glasgow returned to its starting point after getting no further than Belfast Lough, while a Ryanair flight from Alicante diverted to Dublin after it was unable to land at Belfast International.
On Monday, easyJet cancelled two dozen domestic flights between points in Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s largest airport. Eight flights to and from Belfast City were grounded on Sunday night.
Elsewhere, hundreds of easyJet passengers in Egypt are waiting to be flown home from their New Year holidays in Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh. On Sunday, Britain’s biggest budget airline cancelled flights from Gatwick to the Red Sea resorts, as well as the return legs, “due to air-traffic control restrictions and Greek airspace closure”. Dozens of flights to and from Athens were grounded by the air-traffic control failure.
Railways
In Scotland, the Met Office has issued an amber weather warning as temperatures remain below zero. ScotRail trains on key lines in the north of the country have been cancelled for the morning. Network Rail Scotland posted on X (Twitter): “Services likely won’t run until midday on these routes due to heavy and drifting snow:
In north Wales, lines between Llandudno Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog and between Machynlleth and Pwllheli are closed.
The line from Ely in Cambridgeshire and King’s Lynn in Norfolk is closed due to “a number of incidents”.
On the roads, Traffic Scotland has closed the A939 linking Nairn on the Moray coast with the Grampians. On the A835 in northwest Scotland from Ullapool to Tore, motorists are advised to travel “only if necessary”.
Translink in Northern Ireland is warning bus passengers that snow and ice may lead to cancellations.
Read more: What rights do you have to compensation for cancelled or delayed flights?
