Lightning forces flight delays
Thousands of passengers hit as thunderstorm halts all traffic at Nice and flights diverted as far as Milan and Turin
PASSENGERS were stranded on the tarmac at Nice Airport for more than three hours as thunderstorms forced the airport to halt landings and aircraft to be diverted to Marseille, Montpellier, Lyon, Toulouse, Milan and Turin.
The airport was hit twice last night, between 16.30-18.00 and again at 19.15 until 21.35, as driving rain and low cloud reduced visibility to zero. High waves also threatened to swamp the southern runway.
Météo France ordered the airport to halt all refuelling operations due to the lightning risk.
Thousands of passengers were hit by delays and cancellations, some until this morning, with Air France and easyJet booking around 100 hotel rooms for those affected.
All flights out of the airport were delayed and many were cancelled. In all, around 40 flights were affected.
Two easyJet flights, from Gatwick and Liverpool, were diverted to Turin.
This morning, four flights were cancelled, to Heathrow, Gatwick, Vienna and Zurich but services had returned to normal by 10.00.
Passengers already on their planes last night were forced to sit it out as the torrential rains halted take-offs.
One was radio DJ and Celebrity MasterChef hopeful Jamie Theakston, who had been boning up his cookery skills at the noted Colombe d'Or restaurant in St Paul de Vence. He tweeted: "Stuck on a plane in Nice now for 2 hours under an enormous storm … airport shut down .. show to do tomorrow …"
Get up-to-date information on flights at Nice Airport
