Munich Airport temporarily suspends operations on Tuesday
Published: Monday, Dec 4th 2023, 22:40
Updated At: Monday, Dec 4th 2023, 22:40
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Munich Airport is temporarily suspending operations again on Tuesday due to the winter weather. There will be no take-offs and landings from the start of operations at 6.00 a.m. until 12.00 noon, an airport spokesperson announced on Monday evening. The reason for this was the forecast freezing rain in the night from Monday to Tuesday, which is expected to make safe flight operations in the morning and in the morning impossible. At least 150 take-offs and 160 landings will be affected on Tuesday. According to the airport, more than 770 departures and arrivals are planned for the day.
According to the information provided, the airport intends to use the first half of the day to de-ice the operating areas following the forecast freezing rain. The plan is to allow air traffic to resume from midday, it said. However, the flight schedule will probably still be severely restricted in the afternoon. Passengers should plan for this and contact their airline for information.
Meanwhile, Lufthansa expects flight operations at Munich Airport to be restricted well beyond Tuesday. A company spokesperson told the German Press Agency late on Monday evening that it is assumed that there will also be significant restrictions for the rest of the week. Customers with booked tickets to or from Munich will be able to cancel their tickets free of charge. This applies to tickets with a travel date up to December 9.
Overnight stays on camp beds
Due to the restrictions on air traffic caused by the severe onset of winter in large parts of Bavaria, around 1500 passengers were still stranded at the airport on Monday evening, according to the spokesperson. Among other things, they were sleeping on camp beds in the airport and being provided with food and drink. On the X platform, passengers complained on Monday that promised connecting flights had been canceled several times.
Munich is Germany's second largest airport and an important hub for international air traffic. It was mainly international passengers who were stranded, some of whom did not have a visa to enter the country and therefore spent the night at the airport.
Chaos on the railroads too
The heavy snowfall on the first weekend of Advent is also having an impact on roads and railways. Deutsche Bahn (DB) expects further disruptions in Bavaria until the middle of the week and effects nationwide, especially in Baden-Württemberg and towards Switzerland. Travelers have been asked to postpone non-essential journeys until 6 December (Wednesday). Munich's main station, for example, was only in operation to a very limited extent on Monday.
The railroad union EVG and the passenger association Pro Bahn used the chaos on the railroads as an opportunity to sound the alarm. They demanded consequences for the railroad's suitability for winter. EVG Chairman Martin Burkert told the "Augsburger Allgemeine" (Monday) that the German rail infrastructure was "largely dilapidated". There had to be major investments like those in Austria, for example.
The national chairman of the passenger association Pro Bahn, Detlev Neuss, told the newspaper that rail transport was "only sewn on the edge after decades of austerity policies". One of the many problems is that, until recently, the railroads have been dismantling more and more tracks as stabling facilities and now park entire trains directly in stations when they can no longer reach their destination. "The congested stations mean that rail traffic is blocked even more quickly and comes to a standstill on a large scale."
Closed schools
The combination of huge amounts of snow and freezing sub-zero temperatures was a particular challenge, according to several sources. On the streetcar in Munich, ice froze in the tracks and caused vehicles used to clear the tracks to derail.
In the districts of Starnberg and Mühldorf am Inn, as well as in Augsburg, many schools remained closed on Monday. According to reports, this was due to the masses of snow on the roofs of the buildings. Classes are due to resume almost everywhere on Tuesday.
In the most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, snowfall since Sunday evening has provided one to four centimetres of white splendour right into the lowlands, according to the German Weather Service in Essen. Highway and road maintenance services were in constant operation, and hundreds of employees were also working in Cologne to clear roads and footpaths. There was no shortage of accidents on slippery and snow-covered roads in the region.
Meteorologists warn of black ice
And the situation remains tense in many regions of Germany: Even if it gets a little milder, the German Weather Service is warning of possible black ice in many places in the coming days. Especially in the western mountains and the further east you go, there is an increased risk of black ice, said DWD meteorologist Marco Manitta in Offenbach on Monday. The regions between the Main and Danube rivers were particularly at risk from Monday evening to Tuesday morning. And: "It cannot be ruled out that the black ice situation could also turn out to be severe in isolated cases." Only along the Rhine and in the far west will temperatures remain above zero degrees overnight. Severe frost could occur again in south-eastern Bavaria.
©Keystone/SDA
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