Snow hampers air travel in Germany

Dusseldorf - Snow hampered air travel in Germany Monday, with runway clearance work and de-icing of planes at major airports after several days of snow causing delays in take-offs and landing. Dusseldorf Airport, the country's third largest, which closed for 12 hours on Sunday because of a blizzard, was back in operation though one of its two runways was still snowed over. An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 passengers were stranded at the airport by the Sunday closure.

At Frankfurt International Airport, the main German air hub where planes must often queue to take off, about 40 air movements were canceled in the early morning, the Fraport operating company said.

Ground crews operating snow ploughs struggled all weekend to shift snow off runways and taxiways as fast as it fell, but 230 takeoffs had to be canceled or delayed on Sunday when they missed their allocated chance to use a runway or visibility was too reduced.