Heavy snowstorm causes flight disruptions across Europe and United States

Heavy snowfall from a weather episode named Storm Blair has caused major air travel disruptions across Europe and the United States, leading to flight cancellations at several major airports. 

In the United Kingdom, particularly heavy snowfall has led to flight disruptions and temporary runway closures in various regions. 

On January 5, 2025, Met Office, the national meteorological service in the UK, issued yellow weather warnings signaling snowy and icy weather conditions across the country, including most of Northern Ireland, the majority of Scotland, and a large part of central and northern England, as well as nearly all of Wales.  

On January 5, 2025, Manchester Airport (MAN) announced on X that its runways had been temporarily closed due to heavy snowfall. The following day, the airport reported that as of 07:15 local time, all runways were operational, although some flights may still experience delays.  

Similarly, Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LPL) issued a post on X saying that its runway was temporarily closed due to snow, although the airport itself remained operational.  

Meanwhile, Birmingham Airport (BHX) experienced a closure for several hours around midnight but resumed normal operations on January 5, 2025, as result of “resilience teams working throughout the night”. 

In Germany, several airports were also impacted by the snowy conditions. At Frankfurt Airport (FRA), 120 out of around 1,090 scheduled takeoffs and landings were cancelled on January 5, 2025, as reported by airliners.de. 

Munich Airport (MUC) faced operational restrictions as well, with only one runway available while the other was being cleared. At the Germany capital’s Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), around 20 flights were cancelled on the same day. 

Other European countries also experienced flight disruptions. At Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS), 68 flights were cancelled, and over 200 flights were delayed, according to airliners.de report. 

The disruption is expected to continue with frequent sleet or snow showers forecasted to move into southwest England, the Midlands and parts of southern England in the early hours of January 7, 2025, according to Met Office reports.   

Flight disruptions in the US 

Across the Atlantic, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Kansas, Arkansas, and Missouri states have issued emergency declarations due to Storm Blair. So far, airlines operating in the United States canceled over 1,480 flights and delayed 1,343, according to the data from flight tracking website FlightAware.  

“A major winter storm will move from the Ohio Valley to the Mid-Atlantic today, continuing severe travel delays, with major impacts expected for portions of West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C., and Delaware,” the US National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center reported. “Travelers should anticipate significant disruptions.” The post Heavy snowstorm causes flight disruptions across Europe and United States appeared first on AeroTime.

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