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UK snow: Flights cancelled and hundreds of passengers stranded on tarmac amid plummeting temperatures

Hundreds of passengers suffer delays as airports deal with ice and hazardous conditions 

Simon Calder
Tuesday 22 January 2019 22:45 GMT
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Airline passengers have expressed their fury as dozens of flights have been delayed across the UK amid plummeting temperatures.

Dozens of flights were delayed by over an hour at Heathrow airport and 34 British Airways departures and arrivals were cancelled.

A spokesperson at the airport claimed it was "operating normally today, despite the cold weather."

Commuters took to social media to vent their frustrations, with some suggesting they had been waiting on the tarmac for hours.

Temperatures have fallen across the UK as the Met Office issued weather warnings after snow fell across large swathes of the country.

At Heathrow multiple flights short-haul flights were grounded including a Brussels Airlines round-trip from the Belgian capital.

A Lufthansa service to and from Frankfurt was also cancelled.

Beyond the cancellations, passengers claimed they had to wait hours on the tarmac to have their planes de-iced.

Martyn McKenna, who was flying from Heathrow to Nice, said he was stuck on a plane for three hours.

"Three hours later and the plane has been de-iced on one of the two de-icing pads available. Not bad for an airport that supposedly has 1300 flights departing a day," he tweeted.

Problems at other European airports were responsible for the delays to inbound flights with arrivals from Amsterdam and Paris more than four hours late.

Flights to Cape Town, Kuala Lumpur, Boston, Dubai, Kuwait and New York were among the services that were heavily delayed.

There was also disruption in Manchester where six flights in and out of the city's main airport were cancelled.

In Scotland, flights to Edinburgh and Glasgow from Stornoway Airport were delayed.

One easyJet arrival to Glasgow airport from Stansted is expected to arrive after 1am, over three hours late.

Thousands of travellers flying to or from Belfast International have encountered delays after the runway was temporarily closed due to snow.

Passengers on easyJet’s evening flight to Luton is running over two hours late. The airline is telling passengers: “We believe Belfast airport is now open, We plan to still operate your flight and are working to minimise the delay.”

Showers are forecast to continue to bring rain, sleet and snow, although significant flurries are expected to remain limited to higher ground.

Further wintry showers are expected in the North and West on Tuesday night, bringing more snow to the hills and some low-lying areas.

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