BRUSSELS, Jan 7 (Reuters) – Western Europe braced for more snow and ice on Wednesday, with the first named storm of the year hitting the continent’s Atlantic coast.
More flights were cancelled, train services disrupted and roads blocked as storm Goretti advanced across the region.
Heavy snow hit the Paris region as daylight broke, while the south of Britain is likely to be most heavily affected on Thursday and Friday. Cold weather warnings covered vast parts of France and Britain on Wednesday.
French weather agency Meteo France warned of snowfalls extending across the northern half of the country on Wednesday. Britain’s Met Office said ice warnings would remain in Scotland but would be lifted later in the morning in most of England and Wales.
Paris bus services were suspended as shops geared up for the first day of the New Year sales.
Heavier snowfall than usual for the region has caused travel chaos this week. Dutch airline KLM cancelled 600 flights scheduled for Wednesday at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, the sixth day of disruption in a row at one of Europe’s busiest hubs.
KLM has warned it is running out of de-icing fluid for its jets and that delays to supplies had made it difficult to replenish stock. Its partner Air France said it was not aware of any shortages in France.
Schiphol airport said it still had ample supplies of a different type of de-icing fluid it uses to clear runways.
France’s civil aviation authority asked airlines to cut 40% of flights at Paris’ main international airport Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and 25% of flights out of the smaller Orly airport.
In Brussels, some flights were cancelled and the de-icing of runways and the wings of aircraft was causing delays.
Authorities in the Netherlands told people to plan to work from home if possible. French officials banned trucks and school buses from the roads in a third of all administrative departments, most in the northern half of the country.
Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard said the truck ban would bring some disruption to supply chains, in particular fresh produce.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro, Thomas Seythal and Louise Rasmussen; Editing by Richard Lough and Andrew Heavens)
