Travel woes grip Europe
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Temperatures hit record lows in Northern Ireland
- Only one of London Heathrow's two runways is operating
- Paris Charles de Gaulle is scrapping 30% of flights Monday
- Frankfurt airport in Germany has 450 people working to dig snow and ice
Only one of London Heathrow's two runways was operational Monday morning, a day after almost all flights at one of the world's busiest international airports were canceled.
Hundreds of thousands of people were left stranded over the weekend, with many sleeping at the airport.
On Monday the airport said "only a handful" of flights were canceled.
Paris' Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport is due to cancel 30% of flights Monday, as is the city's second airport, Orly, Aeroports de Paris said.
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The airport, Europe's third busiest, has 450 people working "around the clock, de-icing and and removing snow," he said.
British Airways urged passengers not to go to Heathrow unless they know their flight is operating, and encouraged people who did not need to travel to cancel their flight or rebook it.
In other travel news:
-- London's Gatwick Airport canceled 30 out of 730 scheduled flights Monday.
-- Berlin airport in Germany is open, with some cancellations and delays, a spokesman said.
-- Temperatures hit a record low in Northern Ireland overnight, the Met Office said, with temperatures of 18 degrees below zero Celsius (zero degrees Fahrenheit) recorded in Castlederg, County Tyrone. There is no sign of a thaw, forecasters say.
-- British Airways advises travelers to check flight status at www.ba2go.com, but people report difficulty accessing the website.
More than 200,000 passengers were due to take off from Heathrow on Sunday, said Donna O'Brien, a spokeswoman for Heathrow airport operator BAA.
Meanwhile, ground travel in France was also snarled by heavy snowfall and cold temperatures. The U.K.'s Foreign and Commonwealth Office said Sunday that French authorities reported they are preventing all cargo trucks and buses from using roads in northern France and the greater Paris metropolitan area, and that car travel is "inadvisable." Air and rail services were also affected, the office said.
The adverse weather in France affected pop singer Lady Gaga, who said on her Face book page that all 28 of her tour trucks had been detained by the government for more than 24 hours.
The Lady Gaga concert set for Sunday night was rescheduled for Tuesday, according to the website of the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, where it was to be held. A Monday concert remains scheduled.
Paris police said that since noon Saturday, more than 1,300 trucks had been barred from entering Paris, and no trucks were being allowed to circulate in the city. They could not confirm whether Lady Gaga's trucks were among them.
"We've got a few thousand people that have, unfortunately, had to spend the night," said Andrew Teacher, a spokesman for the company at operates Heathrow, on Sunday. "We've been making them as comfortable as possible with blankets, with food and water."
Teacher said ice is the main problem affecting flights.
"We are extremely sorry for the disruption that's been caused to people's journeys today, but the decision has been made simply to avoid any kind of potential risk," Teacher said.
"These are absolutely ... freak weather conditions," he added. "We've not seen a storm like this in 20 years."
On Saturday, frigid temperatures and extreme conditions pummeled Europe. From Northern Ireland to Bulgaria, blizzard conditions left airports with heavy delays or shut them entirely. Snow, ice and fog have caused travel chaos ahead of a busy holiday travel week.
Below-normal temperatures are expected to continue in northern Europe for part of this week
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