Air Transport

Airports around northern Europe have returned back to normal today after a day of chaos and flight cancellations caused by extremely strong winds.

European countries from Ireland to Poland were buffeted yesterday by winds of around 100km/h (55kt), causing major airports including London Heathrow, Frankfurt-Main, Munich, Amsterdam and Vienna, to cancel and delay flights. Heathrow alone cancelled 123 take-offs.

Thousands of people were caught in the chaos, including US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice whose aircraft landed in London for a meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair as gusts reached 130km/h having cancelled the Berlin leg of her European tour due to worsening weather.

In the Netherlands, the storms disrupted air traffic at Amsterdam Schiphol airport, with the number of aircraft movements reduced from 70 to 50 per hour, Netherlands news agency ANP reports.

Airlines' competition was also affected with Eurostar and German ICE high speed trains all cancelled due to safety fears.

The UK Met Office says the winds recorded yesterday were more damaging than high winds because of the frequent gusts.