• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

Snow continues to trap thousands at Madrid airport

Sat Jan 10, 2009 11:35am EST

Stocks

   

MADRID, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Thousands of passengers were still stranded at Madrid's Barajas airport on Saturday after snow kept runways closed and flights grounded.

Only two of the airport's four runways were operating, national television TVE said, citing comments by the head of communications for Spanish airports operator AENA.

An estimated 985 flights were expected to take off and land on Saturday, compared with 1,200 normally, according to AENA data.

The airports operator said it was meeting Barajas officials to try to re-establish normal service after one of the heaviest snowfalls in decades caused the international airport to shut down for five hours on Friday.

More snow fell on the capital overnight allowing no respite for passengers, including those travelling on Iberia (IBLA.MC) who have already suffered weeks of delays and cancellations because of industrial action by pilots.

Spain, like many other parts of Europe, has had an unusually cold winter so far. (Reporting by Inmaculada Sanz; Writing by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Katie Nguyen)



More from Reuters

Photo

Producer prices surge, factory activity slows

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. producer prices rose faster than expected in November, while a gauge of manufacturing in the New York state unexpectedly fell this month, creating a potential headache for the Federal Reserve. | Video

» More Top News
Iraq's Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani attends a tender in Baghdad June 30, 2009.REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani

Ready for business

With enough oil deals on the table to quadruple its output capacity, Iraq is in a strong position when it enters quota talks with OPEC. But a number of challenges may unhinge its ambitious plans.  Full Article 

Commodities
In this photo reviewed by the U.S. Military, a guard leans on a fencepost as a Guantanamo detainee (L) jogs inside the exercise yard at Camp 5 detention center, at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, January 21, 2009. REUTERS/Brennan Linsley/Pool

Life after Guantanamo

Critics are worried that Gitmo prisoners once dubbed "enemy combatants" will be using prisons as pulpits for anti-American rhetoric once they're moved to U.S. soil.  Full Article 

U.S.