Amsterdam Schiphol airport, one of the largest in Europe, has announced at least 700 flight cancellations because of snow and wind, after days of weather-related travel disruptions.
More than 1,000 people spent the night at Schiphol, the airport said on Wednesday, adding that it had set up camp beds and offered breakfast to travellers forced to sleep there. The number of cancellations is expected to rise throughout the day.
Snow, ice and freezing temperatures have wreaked havoc across parts of Europe this week, with five people confirmed to have died on Tuesday in road collisions in France.
About 100 flights were cancelled at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport on Wednesday morning because of snowfall and fierce cold, and a further 40 were cancelled at the French capital’s Orly airport, the French transport minister said.
Public bus services in Paris and the surrounding suburbs were suspended due to icy roads, though most metro and suburban rail systems were working, transport officials said.
The Météo France weather service said 38 of the country’s 96 Metropolitan departments – the mainland and Corsica – were on alert for heavy snow and black ice, with 3cm to 7cm (about 1in to 3in) of snow already accumulated.
It said the cold snap was of “rare intensity for the season”. Authorities had already warned people in the Paris region to avoid unnecessary travel on Wednesday and work from home if possible.