Airports face fine for travel chaos

THE FRENCH government is considering fining airports and airlines for the travel chaos that affected thousands of people's Christmas travel plans.

The ecology ministry has launched an inquiry into what went wrong, focusing on Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports in Paris, where many flights were cancelled by snow and ice.

Investigators are due to report back next week. The state is a majority shareholder in Aéroports de Paris, which runs the capital's two main airports.

Ecology and transport minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said: "Naturally, there could be sanctions if we find evidence of a lack of responsibility."

She said transport authorities "could have done better" to prevent the widespread disruption to services.

Charles de Gaulle airport, for example, did not have enough de-icing chemicals. It now keeps enough stocks for two and a half days of very heavy snow.

President Sarkozy said the "disorganisation" prompted by the heavy snow before Christmas was unacceptable.

"It is understandable that services will be disrupted by weather, but users should not feel as though they have been abandoned," he said.

He said "appropriate measures" would be "rapidly put in place", but added: "Our country is not in the polar circle. We do not need to equip ourselves with costly equipment that will only be used on very rare occasions."

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