Dozens of Flights Cancelled As Storm Wreaks Havoc at Frankfurt Airport
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Dozens of flights were canceled at Germany’s Frankfurt Airport after heavy rain led to flooding on parts of the tarmac and an hours-long suspension of ground handling operations.
The accumulation on Wednesday evening of large amounts of water across parts of the tarmac, including the apron area, where planes are parked, loaded and unloaded, forced many flights to be cancelled, delayed or diverted, a spokesman for the airport told German news agency (dpa) early Thursday, Bernama reported.
Ground handling at Germany’s busiest airport was completely suspended for more than two hours, meaning 34 aircraft could not take off on time on Wednesday evening.
Many flights had already been cancelled by the airlines themselves. The airport’s website listed about 70 cancellations by late Wednesday. A further 23 planned arrivals were diverted to other airports.
The German Weather Service had issued a thunderstorm warning for all of the western state of Hessen, where Frankfurt is located, on Wednesday.
There were also reports of isolated overnight flooding in the states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Thuringia, mostly affecting building basements.