Snow & wind: Hundreds of Schiphol flights to be cancelled tomorrow; 100 scrapped so far
Airlines operating at Schiphol Airport pre-emptively cancelled over 100 flights on Saturday amid warnings that scattered snowfall, freezing rain, and icy conditions will continue through most of the weekend. Hundreds of flights are likely to be scrapped for the second day in a row, an airport spokesperson told ANP. Delays will likely be a factor this weekend, exacerbated by the time needed to de-ice aircraft, Schiphol wrote in a warning.
Up to 10 centimeters of snow can fall locally in central and eastern portions of the Netherlands between Friday evening and Saturday morning, said Dutch meteorological office KNMI. Those elsewhere can expect up to 5 centimeters of snow, and as much as 3 centimeters accumulating at any given moment during heavier showers.
With more winter weather expected this weekend, airlines at Schiphol cancelled another 58 departing flights on Saturday, and 50 more arriving flights. The cancellations mainly affected KLM and its subsidiary, Transavia. Several dozen more flights from various airlines were also expected to be delayed, especially aircraft arriving from cities outside of Europe.
The airport, among the largest by passenger volume in Europe, dealt with more than 300 flight cancellations and 600 delays on Friday alone. KLM said it was trying to help "a considerable number of people" with accommodations after several dozen of its flights were scrapped. The airline is the largest operating at Schiphol Airport.
"We are doing our best to get everyone into a hotel. Those who arrange this themselves will be compensated later," a spokesperson told ANP.
Snow and wind prompts 325 cancelled Schiphol flights, 635 more delayed
KLM joined Schiphol in issuing warnings about weather affecting operations on Friday. "Fresh to strong winds are also associated with the low pressure region named 'Storm Anna' and are expected to impact Amsterdam throughout the day," wrote European air traffic center Eurocontrol in an updated bulletin just after 4 p.m.
Passenger airlines scrapped 159 departures and 166 inbound flights from the start of operations on Friday, the Schiphol Airport website showed at 4 p.m. Another 329 outbound flights and 307 arrivals were also delayed by as much as several hours.
Air traffic capacity was improving a bit in Amsterdam compared to earlier in the day, though wind and snow was expected to remain a problem, Eurocontrol said. "Wintry showers are affecting Benelux, Germany, Poland & Czechia. At times this is falling as snow with accumulations."
At the country's second largest airport in Eindhoven, about three dozen departures faced delays of varying degree, and nearly 20 arriving flights also faced issues. One departure and another arrival were also cancelled there, but no updates have been issued for Saturday. The airport was late to confirm it was having issues during the day. The Rotterdam The Hague Airport also faced about 15 delayed departures and a dozen affected arrivals, again ranging from a few minutes to up to an hour late.
Icy roads could again cause accidents all weekend
The KNMI extended a Code Yellow weather warning for icy conditions, snow and freezing temperatures through the entirety of Friday afternoon and evening, and all of Saturday, concluding around noon on Sunday. The weather warning covered the entirety of the Netherlands, though the alert for the Wadden Islands begins with the start of Saturday just after midnight.
"Road users should continue to expect slippery conditions due to winter precipitation and wet road sections freezing over," said infrastructure agency Rijkswaterstaat. "In addition to slippery conditions, we are warning about hazardous driving conditions."
The agency is also deploying its Lavastorm snow removal truck on the A2 between Den Bosch en Vught. The vehicle is used to tackle trickier situations where ice is also chopped up on the fly, while snow is also pushed to the side and salt is dumped on the road.
Windy weather could continue throughout the weekend, especially along the coast, however it will not be as strong as Friday morning, the KNMI said.
