EU: Weather chaos could lead to more regulation

[December 21, 2010]  LONDON (AP) -- The Europe-wide failure to keep flights operating in cold and snowy conditions is unacceptable and could lead to tighter regulation by the EU, the continent's top transportation official said Tuesday as exhausted, outraged passengers struggled to get home for the fourth day.

Major delays and cancellations disrupted European airports including London's Heathrow, and the Eurostar train link, leaving thousands stranded across Europe as Christmas approached. Some 72 hours after a five-inch snowfall, the icy road conditions in much of Britain also raised doubts about the delivery of Christmas gifts because many side roads were hazardous.

"We are delivering as much as we can, but inevitably some things may not be delivered before Christmas," said Anina Castle, spokeswoman for the Currys chain, which sells computers, iPods, home appliances and many other items.

Currys and many other major businesses have stopped taking online orders for pre-Christmas delivery because of the poor road conditions.

Predicted snowfall at Heathrow did not materialize overnight, allowing cleanup crews to intensify their work, but more than half the flights at Europe's busiest international hub were expected to be canceled.

Transportation Commissioner Siim Kallas said new airport regulations due to be published before the summer could include new requirements on "minimal services" airports will have to be able to provide during severe weather.

He said he will meet with airport representatives in coming days "to ask for further explanations and to take a hard look at what is necessary to make sure they would be able to operate more effectively."

"Airports must 'get serious' about planning for this kind of severe weather conditions," Kallas said. "We have seen in recent years that snow in Western Europe is not such an exceptional circumstance.

"Better preparedness, in line with what is done in Northern Europe is not an optional extra, it must be planned for and with the necessary investment, particularly on the side of the airports," Kallas said.

The terminals at Heathrow were clogged with passengers desperately looking at computer screens to see if they would be able to get to their destinations. So many people were sprawled on the floor that it was difficult to walk.

"It's pathetic -- you would think this is a Third World country," said Janice Phillips, 29, trying to get back to Minneapolis and sitting next to her sleeping boyfriend, head propped up on a backpack with his mouth ajar. "I've been here for two weeks and all they've been talking about was this snow forecast. You would think the government could do a better job."

Others pointed out that the snow had stopped on Saturday and the airport was still hobbled three days later.

"It's not even snowing!" said Candie Sparks, 19, who was trying to get back to Santa Fe, New Mexico. "It's crazy."

Eurostar, which links England to France and Belgium by train, also advised passengers to cancel their trips in the coming days and receive a full refund unless travel was absolutely necessary. Eurostar said trains were running with speed restrictions in both England and France as a precuation, because snow and ice stirred up by trains could damage the underside of the carriages.

Outside London's Eurostar terminal, the line of travelers waiting for trains snaked several hundred meters (yards) from the station, down the street and all the way to the British Library.

Inside, puffy-eyed passengers shuffled across the cold concourse, watching anxiously as the line periodically spurted forward. One older man played Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" on his harmonica. The crowd livened up when he switched to Europe's "The Final Countdown."

On the rails, Eurostar trains were still operating at reduced speed, with at least one high-speed train crawling along at 20 kilometers per hour (12 miles per hour) inside the Channel Tunnel.

Eurostar said trains were running with speed restrictions in both England and France as a precaution, because snow and ice stirred up by trains could damage the underside of the carriages.

Rail expert Christian Wolmar said Eurostar was being cautious after last year's holiday-season breakdown, when powdery snow got sucked into the engines of speeding trains, and the entire Eurostar service was suspended for three days. A report recommended running trains more slowly in snow.

Wolmar said the real problem was bad management at Eurostar.

"Eurostar ought to be ashamed of themselves," he said.

"They ought to be putting on more trains. They have lots of train sets, and it would seem possible to put on extra trains, but they can't get the crews or they can't get the trains in place.

There were problems in Germany as well. Fresh snowfall forced Frankfurt airport, Germany's biggest, to suspend takeoffs and landings for a few hours early Tuesday -- the latest setback to beleaguered pre-Christmas travelers in Europe and beyond.

Frankfurt has seen hundreds of cancelations over recent days -- often a result of disruption elsewhere in Europe, including major problems at Heathrow.

In Cologne, two railway workers were killed during the night when they were hit by a train as they tried to de-ice a switch. Police said the men apparently overheard or heard too late a warning signal from the train driver, the German news agency DAPD reported. No one aboard the train was hurt.

The situation in Brussels eased overnight as a feared shortage of de-icing liquid failed to occur

The heaviest snowfall in a quarter-century has snarled much of Ireland, with drivers forced to abandon their cars even on major Dublin roads.

Eamonn Hewitt, spokesman for ferry line Stena, says ships on all Britain-Ireland routes were reporting exceptionally high traffic last experienced during the volcanic ash scare in April and May. Then as now, travelers frustrated by uncertain air links are turning to sea travel where possible.

Siobhan Moore, spokeswoman for Dublin Airport, says runways are open Tuesday but flights face major disruptions because of the difficulty of getting aircraft in and out of Britain following Monday's mass cancellations. Dublin was closed for several hours Monday, while several intercontinental flights bound for Heathrow were diverted to Shannon in southwest Ireland, where passengers from the United States, Canada, Nigeria and Japan were accommodated in local hotels.

[Associated Press; By GREGORY KATZ and GABRIELE STEINHAUSER]

Paisley Dodds and Raphael G. Satter in London, Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin, and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

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