The transport disruption to expect as Met Office issues weather warning

Dozens more KLM flights to and from Amsterdam have been cancelled, while the West Coast Main Line is closed in multiple locations

Freeze frame: Ryanair passengers from Alicante arriving at a snow-covered Norwich airport (Simon Calder)

The year is beginning with millions of travellers on the move – but with disruption on the railways and roads, and in the skies. The Met Office has issued multiple weather warnings covering Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, with transport links set to be affected. These are the key concerns.

Air

Tens of thousands of passengers hoping to fly between the UK and Amsterdam have had their flights cancelled since Friday because of wintry weather at Schiphol airport – exacerbated by three days of operational disruption leaving aircraft and crew out of position.

KLM has grounded a further 58 flights on Sunday, taking the total in the course of three days to over 150. Sunday’s links with multiple cancellations include Aberdeen, Belfast, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heathrow (eight), London City (six), Manchester, Newcastle and Teesside. Smaller airports with a round-trip from Amsterdam grounded include Cardiff, Exeter and Inverness.

The Dutch airline has cancelled a dozen US flights, including to Washington DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles because of weather. It has also grounded Caribbean flights serving Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Barbados, Georgetown, Port of Spain, and Sint Maarten “due to the security situation in Venezuela”.

British Airways has cancelled five round-trips from Heathrow to Amsterdam.

During the 17 days of the festive spell from 19 December to 4 January, aviation analysts at Cirium report 42,046 flights are scheduled to depart from UK airports with a total of 7.8 million seats. That is an average of more than 100 takeoffs per hour, with almost 20,000 seats.

Departures are up 2 per cent compared with the festive period in 2024, and available departing seats are up 4 per cent year on year.

Many airports are expecting a surge in passenger numbers on Sunday 4 January.

London Heathrow has the highest number of flights, with one in five departures being from the UK’s busiest hub. It is expecting its busiest festive spell to date, as are Birmingham and Manchester airports.

The top destinations from many airports are:

• Alicante
• Amsterdam
• Dubai
• Dublin
• Geneva
• Paris CDG
• Tenerife

Rail

The final weekend of the festive season is seeing many travellers displaced to other lines by Network Rail engineering work. Some key stations and lines are closed, putting pressure on other routes.

The West Coast Main Line, which connects London Euston with the West Midlands, northwest England, north Wales and southern Scotland, remains closed on the key stretch from Milton Keynes and Rugby up to and including 4 January.

Action station: Network Rail engineers at work (Network Rail)

A key junction at Hanslope, south of Rugby, is being replaced. Rail replacement bus services will operate. In addition, Chiltern Railway from London Marylebone to Birmingham, the East Coast Main Line north from London King’s Cross and the East Midlands line from London St Pancras will take the strain.

Further north, the West Coast Main Line is closed in Cumbria to enable Network Rail to replace an ageing bridge over the M6 motorway. The line will not reopen until 15 January. Avanti West Coast is providing a scenic train diversion along England’s most beautiful line, the Settle-Carlisle Railway.

Until 6 January the line from Carlisle to Lockerbie is also closed, with rail replacement buses.

Passengers between Scotland and London are being urged to use the East Coast Main Line from Edinburgh to London King's Cross.

Road

Traffic will build through the weekend leading to the return to work on Monday 5 January

The M6 in Cumbria is closed to motorists between junctions 39 and 40, reopening at 5am on Monday. It will also be closed from 8pm on Friday 9 January to 5am on Monday 12 January.

Traffic will build through the weekend leading to the return to work on Monday 5 January. Some prospective key locations for congestion are:

• M25, particularly between the M4 at Heathrow and the M1, plus near Bluewater in Kent
• M4 from M5 junction near Bristol to Cardiff
• M5 south of Bristol and also close to the M6 junction in the West Midlands
• M6 through the West Midlands from the M42 junction to Wolverhampton
• M60 around Manchester, near the Trafford Centre and between junction 7 (Altrincham) and the M62 junction

The M27 in Hampshire has fully reopened between junctions 9 and 11 after 10 days of closure.

Traffic will build through the weekend leading to the return to work on Monday 5 January (Simon Calder)

Ferry

Caledonian MacBrayne ferries in western Scotland are disrupted. Cancellations on Sunday include all ferries between Mallaig and Armadale (southern Skye) and Oban to South Uist.

Sailings are running normally between the Port of Dover, Calais and Dunkirk. The port authorities in Dover are urging drivers not to arrive more than two hours before their scheduled departure.

Unlike aviation, there is no penalty for missing a ferry at Dover due to congestion; you will simply be rebooked free of charge. “If you missed your ferry, please don’t worry,” the port is telling motorists. “You’ll be put on the next available sailing.”

This article is kept updated with the latest information.