Munich Airport resumes operations after sleet halted flights

Flights resumed at Munich Airport on Tuesday afternoon after icy runways and sleet caused operations to be temporarily put on hold. 

Further cancellations and delays were expected throughout the day, however. Passengers in Munich must continue to expect "massive restrictions," the spokesman said.

Only around 100 of the 770 take-offs and landings originally planned for Tuesday are expected to go ahead in the afternoon, he added. 

The northern part of the airport in particular had been heavily affected by icy rain, he said. The winter services had to remove a thick layer of ice with great effort. 

Heavy snowfall led to significant traffic disruptions in parts of southern Germany over the weekend when the airport was also forced to close along with the Bavarian capital's main train station.

How the weather affected the airport

Earlier, Munich Airport said there would be no takeoffs and landings from the start of operations at 6 a.m. (0500 UTC/GMT) until midday on Tuesday.

"The reason for this is the forecast freezing rain in the night from Monday to Tuesday, which is expected to make safe flight operations impossible in the morning."

"The operating areas will be de-iced in the first half of the day. The plan is to allow air traffic to resume from midday.

"However, it can be assumed that the majority of flights will also have to be canceled during the rest of the day for safety reasons."

The airport advised passengers to contact their airlines before traveling to the airport to find out the status of their flights.

Following the weekend winter weather, flights at the airport were suspended on Saturday and only able to resume on Sunday.

Train connections also hit buffers

Local trains, buses and trams also stopped running, with authorities in many municipalities urging people to stay at home for safety reasons.

German rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) warned in a statement on Monday that, as it struggled to deal with the effects of the weekend's heavy snow and frost, passengers would still have to expect major restrictions on train traffic.

DB announced that passengers would have to expect restrictions until at least Wednesday.

In the greater Munich area alone, more than 80 overhead line faults had to be repaired on Monday.

The operator said all trains on the Munich to Salzburg, Munich to Innsbruck, and Munich - Lindau/Zurich routes were currently canceled.

In addition, it said only a few long-distance trains were running to Munich's main station to which access is limited.

The operator advised would-be passengers to postpone their trips to and from Munich.

Edited by: Louis Oelofse

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