While some are dreaming of a white Christmas, for others it is an unpleasant reality as travel plans are being derailed by the treacherous weather.

In Europe, travel has been compromised by icy roads, runways that have been snowed under and huge backlogs.

Eurostar, running services between England and mainland Europe, suspended its services on Friday after five of its trains broke down following what the company called "unprecedented weather" in its 15 years of operation, leaving 55,000 travellers stranded in a week that sees many people travelling back home to meet their loved ones for Christmas. The service has since resumed.

The weather in Malta is summery by European standards, but many travellers may see their trips being considerably delayed because of the situation in Europe.

Yesterday, an easyJet flight from Manchester was cancelled due to the weather and two Air Malta flights from London Heathrow and Birmingham were delayed by one and two hours respectively. On Monday, the Ryanair Malta-Luton service was cancelled and an easyJet flight to Newcastle was delayed by three hours.

On Sunday, an Air Malta flight from Manchester stopped over for the night due to "bad weather and crew limitations" and left on Monday at 9.30 a.m., and a flight from Cologne, in Germany, arrived fully five hours late.

Another flight leaving Malta and stopping in Brussels en route to Amsterdam skipped the Brussels stop and operated directly to the Dutch capital, leaving four hours and 35 minutes late due to the non-availability of air traffic control slots.

On Friday, there were considerable delays in arrivals and departures, with easyJet and Ryanair flights to Gatwick and Luton airports respectively being cancelled due to foul weather. On Thursday, flights to Brussels had to be diverted to Ostend because Brussels airport was closed.

UK airports Gatwick, Luton and Heathrow were warning that flights could be delayed or cancelled due to severe weather conditions.