Freezing rain forecast
Munich Airport will partially suspend operations on Tuesday
December 4, 2023, 7:44 p.m
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Heavy snowfall brings road, rail and air traffic to a standstill in Bavaria. Some passengers have been staying overnight at Munich Airport for several days because their trips were canceled. Freezing rain is now causing the airport to close completely on Tuesday morning.
Munich Airport will temporarily suspend operations again on Tuesday due to the winter weather. An airport spokesman said there will be no take-offs and landings on Tuesday from the start of operations at 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. The reason is the announced freezing rain on Tuesday night, which will probably make safe flight operations in the morning and in the morning impossible. At least 150 takeoffs and 160 landings were affected on Tuesday. According to the airport, more than 770 departures and arrivals are planned for the day.
In the event of the announced freezing rain, the airport wants to use the first half of the day to de-ice the operating areas. The plan is to start air traffic again from midday, it was said. However, the flight schedule will probably still be severely restricted in the afternoon. Passengers should plan for this accordingly and find out more from their airline. Because of the restrictions on air traffic due to the severe onset of winter in large parts of Bavaria, around 1,500 passengers were still stranded at Munich Airport in the evening, as the spokesman said.
Passengers were sometimes stranded at the airport for several nights. On X, passengers complained that promised connecting flights had been canceled several times. When asked in the evening, Munich Airport and Lufthansa confirmed that passengers had stayed overnight in the terminals, “including some several times,” as an airport spokesman replied.
Lufthansa offers meals and hotel rooms
Lufthansa spoke of several hundred passengers who had stayed overnight at Germany’s second largest airport. Munich is the second largest German airport and an important hub for international air traffic. Apparently it was mainly international passengers who were stranded, not locals. Some X users had publicly complained about Lufthansa and said they had been stuck in Munich for the third day in a row, sometimes without luggage.
Flight operations at Munich Airport were also severely restricted this Monday. “Lufthansa will provide meals and hotel rooms free of charge to passengers whose onward flight is canceled due to the weather situation in Munich,” the statement said. If the contingent of several hundred rooms is fully booked, passengers would have the opportunity to book a hotel room themselves and the costs would be reimbursed. “Nevertheless, several hundred passengers are staying overnight in the terminal,” said the statement from the Lufthansa spokeswoman. “Either because they don’t have a visa to enter the country, or because the guests are refusing the offer to book a hotel room.”
The heavy snowfall on the first weekend in Advent also affects rail traffic. Deutsche Bahn (DB) expects further disruptions in Bavaria and effects nationwide until the middle of the week, especially in Baden-Württemberg and towards Switzerland. Travelers were asked to postpone non-essential journeys until December 6th (Wednesday).
Heavy snowfall over the weekend in large parts of southern Germany brought rail traffic to a standstill. Trees blocked tracks, icy overhead lines and snow-covered trains prevented travel. It remains unclear when all routes will be accessible again. This Monday, too, travelers and commuters had to prepare for delays and train cancellations.