Nearly half Paris flights cancelled

NEARLY half of all flights out of Paris airports were cancelled today and over the past weekend due to the snow – with flights to London being badly affected.

This morning, flights were taking off with slight delays - the British Airways 7.50 flight from Paris Charles-de-Gaulle to Heathrow took off at 8.17 - and passengers are warned to check with their airline before setting off to the airport. Further snowfalls are expected.

The flight cancellations were ordered by the Direction Generale de l'Aviation Civile and the knock-on effect was felt at airports across France, with short and medium-distance flights being the ones cancelled. However, flights were also hit by disruption at Frankfurt Airport, where 200 flights were cancelled today and 445 yesterday.

UK-bound passengers hoping to take the trains and the Channel Tunnel found services very busy and running late - as TGV speeds were limited to avoid problems with snow on the lines or falling blocks of ice.

Speeds have been cut from the usual 300-320kph to 220kph on most routes and some sections to 170kph. This is adding between 25 to 40 minutes to all TGV journeys.

Eurostar has said that passengers are advised to exchange tickets for later journeys if possible. It has only cancelled one train so far, the 18.13 from Paris to London.

SNCF closed the Intercité route Paris-Limoges-Toulouse because of icing on the overhead power cables and the trains’ power pick-ups.