Winter storm grounds trans-Atlantic flights

Severe weather in Northern Europe over the weekend has caused many trans-Atlantic flights to be delayed or cancelled.

The weather could lead to some non-delivery of freight, said Gary Breininger, president of Breininger & Associates Inc., a strategic business advisory and marketing services firm specializing in the transportation and logistics sector.

“That can wreak havoc on the manufacturers or retailers because people are going to be disappointed, especially around Christmas,” Breininger said. “But I don’t think that’s going to be the case. I think it’s more of a delay scenario rather than just stopping altogether for a week. Logistics people are pretty innovative—I’m surprised I haven’t seen blogs about people getting snowmobiles (to move shipments).”

On December 20, Air Canada said the storm conditions had forced it to delay or cancel many of its London and Paris flights. The weather has also affected connecting flights within Europe.

Air Canada cancelled all its departures from London to Canada on December 19, while London’s Heathrow Airport stopped accepting arrivals and allowed only a handful of planes to take off, since maintenance staff at the airport couldn’t adequately de-ice the tarmac. Thousands of holiday travellers face delays.

British Airways said the severe weather caused significant disruptions to their operations at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports.

Airports in France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands were also closed or experiencing delays. Authorities in parts of Western Germany banned trucks weighing more than 7.5 tons from highways as a safety measure.

Heathrow Airport’s website said the airport would follow a reduced flying schedule until December 22. A maximum one-third of flights are likely to operate until then, the website noted. Delays and cancellations were likely in the next few days and potentially beyond Christmas Day.