Christmas flights get off the ground

Eurostar plans 'nearly normal' service; airports at London and Paris are open, but still suffering disruption

A NEW wave of snow is expected to hit central France today as airlines and train firms seek to deal with a backlog of passengers travelling during the holiday period.

Snow is expected in the Pays-de-la-Loire, Centre, Ile-de-France and Picardy regions.

In the south, weather warnings have been issued because of heavy rain.

Planes
Heathrow, which yesterday saw only 30 per cent of its flights take place, has opened both of its runways, six days after snow fell across the south of England.

The airport has published its full schedule of flights for today here

London City is suffering delays due to fog.

Dublin has reopened this morning after closing yesterday because of snow.

Gatwick is open but experiencing knock-on delays.

Both Belfast airports are open after air traffic control problems yesterday.

The Paris airports authority says both airports are open, but passengers should check with their airline before travelling, because delays and knock-on cancellations are still occurring.

A baggage handlers' strike is affecting some flights out of Marseille.

Trains
Eurostar services are almost running at normal levels, with only nine cancellations out of 52 services.

The company is advising travellers to arrive one hour before the departure time on their tickets.

In the past two days, enormous queues have resulted in both Paris and London as the operator struggled to cope with the number of passengers.

For a full list of trains running today, plus alternative services in case your train is cancelled, click here.

Services along the East Coast Mainline in the UK are returning to normal after massive disruption yesterday when electrical cables along the route near Huntingdon snapped.

In France, TGV services are operation, with speed restrictions on the Est-Européenne and Nord lines.

Fallout
The European Commission has demanded reports from airport directors as to why snow was able to cause so much trouble in western Europe.

EU transport commissioner Siim Kallas has said a "minimum service" charter could be put in place for European airports, following the disruption at Paris, London and Frankfurt.

British PM David Cameron said yesterday that BAA, which runs Heathrow, had refused military assistance to clear its runways.