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Date Published: 06/01/2025

UK snowstorm causes transport chaos with dozens of flights to Spain cancelled or delayed

Airports across Britain were forced to close their runways on Sunday due to blankets of snow and ice

Heavy snow, ice, freezing temperatures and driving rain have placed half of the UK on alert over the past couple of days and as the storm reached its zenith on Sunday January 5, several airports were forced to close their runways and suspend or even cancel flights.

According to the UK’s Met Office, most of Northern Ireland and Scotland were under snow and ice warnings throughout Sunday, as well as a large part of central and northern England, and Wales. Dozens of flights to Spain were delayed by hours and the disruption is expected to spill over into Monday January 6 as the bad weather continues and the airlines scramble to catch up.

Leeds-Bradford Airport closed its runway on Sunday morning as staff desperately tried to clear the snow and several flights were rescheduled for later in the afternoon. Manchester and Liverpool also suspended all flights for a few hours and they warned passengers on social media that some departures and arrivals might experience “delays” while teams worked to de-ice the planes and clear the aviation area.

After midnight on Saturday, Birmingham Airport also suspended its operations "for reasons of safety and snow clearing" for several hours. According to X, it resumed its normal activity in the early hours of the morning "as a result of the resilience of the teams that worked during the night."

Bristol airport was the first to be forced to suspend flights and divert them to other cities such as London, Cardiff and Belfast due to the snow and freezing rain storm late on Saturday afternoon. However, it was able to reopen hours later.

The adverse weather also caused severe disruptions to train routes in England, Scotland and Wales on Sunday.

“Ice and snow can mean speed restrictions and line closures are implemented to ensure trains are able to run safely on the railway,” National Rail said.

In addition, National Highways issued a countrywide severe weather alert for snow across England on Saturday and Sunday.

“Road users are advised to take extra care if travelling over the weekend,” it said.

While normal operations have resumed in most of the country on Monday January 6, airlines expect there to be a knock-on effect for at least a few more hours, so passengers are advised to check their flight schedules before travelling to the airport.

The cold spell is expected to continue in the UK until early next week, with sunny spells and wintry showers, until the weather stabilises by next weekend.

Join our Spain Weather Watch Facebook group for regular updates

Images: Newcastle International Airport/X

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