Flights to UK frozen

Passengers travelling to the UK faced another stressful day of delays and cancellations yesterday as Britain continued to be hampered by the extreme weather conditions.

Both Air Malta and Easyjet had to cancel their flight to Gatwick after snow shut down the London airport for the second day running. As happened on Wednesday, in fact, after several hours of delay, passengers were told that their flights had been cancelled.

Air Malta only managed to operate one flight to Gatwick, which was re-scheduled from the day before because of previous cancellations.

Heathrow airport, on the other hand, operated more or less normally over the past two days.

Parts of the UK are facing an unprecedented cold spell, which has seen temperatures plunge to below those of European ski resorts. The mercury in Benson, Oxfordshire, and Woodford, Greater Manchester, sank to -18°C, while the popular ski destinations of Davos, in Switzerland, and St Anton, in Austria, saw temperatures of -12°C and -8°C respectively.

Airports, roads and trains have all been hit by the severe weather and thousands of schools closed, with many likely to remain shut today.

The delays are frustrating tourists in Malta wanting to get back home after a break to enjoy the island's quasi summery weather.

On Wednesday, Rita Pavey, an elderly British tourist, was at the airport at 6 a.m. to catch the Air Malta flight; at 5 p.m. she was still waiting at the departures lounge with her husband Dennis. They said they were planning to spend the night at the airport to make sure they didn't miss their flight yesterday morning but, alas, that was delayed by another day.

Tony Kirkham was just leaving the airport in a minibus full of what were meant to have been departing travellers but who were instead off to a hotel in Valletta for which they had to pay themselves:

"We arrived here at 5 a.m. for an 8.30 flight, which was cancelled because Gatwick was closed," he said, adding that Air Malta weren't offering free accommodation. His wife complained that "old people were queuing for two hours without being told what was happening".

An Air Malta spokesman said the airline was not obliged to provide free accommodation because the reasons for the cancellation were not within its control. Yet, the national airline eventually provided accommodation to the people waiting.

Forecasters say the snow over southern England has eased but there will be isolated snow showers elsewhere. Widespread ice will become the major problem, with temperatures staying well below zero across the UK.