Heavy snow disrupted European air travel yesterday and stranded hundreds of drivers in their cars as far south as Italy as a white Christmas appeared increasingly likely for many places.

In hard-hit Britain, London Heathrow closed both runways to clear the snow, while London Gatwick reopened after a 140-strong team removed 10 cm of snow from the tarmac.

Flag carrier British Airways cancelled all short-haul departures from both airports, with all long-haul flights from Heathrow scrapped until 8 p.m. and until 6 p.m. at Gatwick.

“We are keeping the situation under review and will make a decision regarding long-haul flights as soon as possible,” said a BA spokesman.

Heathrow, the world’s busiest international airport, said its runways were closed “to allow snow clearing and to keep the airport safe”.

Flights were also grounded at Stansted and Luton airports near London, at Birmingham airport in Britain’s second city and Southampton airport for at least part of the day. Eurostar, which operates high-speed passenger trains linking London with Paris and Brussels, was operating with speed restrictions that added up to an hour on journey times.

Four people were killed in traffic accidents across Britain caused by the weather.

Heavy snowfall also played havoc with the weekend’s sporting calendar, with today’s crunchEnglish Premier League match between Chelsea and Manchester United called off.

Frankfurt airport, Germany’s busiest, cancelled about 170 flights yesterday because of the severe winter weather across Europe, an airport spokesman said.

Last Friday 560 out of 1,400 flights had been cancelled for the same reason, but Frankfurt’s runways were open yesterday morning.

“We are trying to control the situation,” said the spokesman who expected a large number of delays and cancellations during the day as other European airports were closed.

German carrier Lufthansa advised passengers to take the train rather than fly, saying tickets for flights could be used on the railways.

But German rail operator Deutsche Bahn warned that the snowfall would also lead to delays and cancellations.

Dozens of flights were also cancelled at Amsterdam’s Schiphol, where some 3,000 people were forced to spend the night in the airport, the press office said.

Budapest’s Ferihegy airport closed in the afternoon after heavy snowfall made the runways unusable, but has since reopened, the airport’s operator said in a statement.

In Italy, the Tuscany region was hardest hit, with hundreds of cars stuck on highways aroundFlorence, where up to 20 cm of snow fell.

Motorists criticised authorities for not making it clear that the motorways were blocked, so that more and more vehicles became trapped.

High-speed trains between Milan, Florence and Rome were also cancelled, leaving some 5,000 passengers sheltering in a conference hall in the Tuscan capital.

Florence airport closed until mid-afternoon, while the airport at Pisa, which is used by low-cost airlines, was likely to remain closed until today.

About a quarter of flights from the main Paris Charles de Gaulle hub will be cancelled today between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., while 60 per cent of flights were delayed yesterday, the French civil aviation authority said.

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