The biggest snowfall in the UK in four years has caused widespread disorder on Sunday. Snow blocked roads, and disrupted air traffic after it closed airport runways.
Aviation from Birmingham airport, serving the country's second-largest city, suspended all flights Sunday morning while staff worked to open the runway amid heavy snowfall.
An airport spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the airport is expected to resume flights afternoon. The airport, which usually receive 30,000 passengers and 200 flights per day in December, diverted 11 trips to other destinations and more flights are expected to be canceled, she added.
London's Luton Airport closed its runway for two hours before reopening it at about 11:30 a.m. for departing aircraft, according to the spokesman.
By afternoon, the airport had reopened for incoming flights. "All flights are subject to delay or cancellation," he added.
The passengers, whose flights were delayed, expressed their anger via Twitter, where one of them wrote that the airport was "like a battlefield" because of chaos. In Wales and central England, the most snow-affected areas, police have urged people to use roads only for "extreme necessities".
A spokesman to the Highways England Agency said that traffic accidents "occurred throughout the region." Snowfall continued during the afternoon, which increased the likelihood of roads’ blockage.
Oli Claydon, spokesman to Meteorological Office "We survived the worst," adding that most of the affected areas would enjoy the start of a sunny day.
He added that the last time snow fell in such intensity in Britain was in March 2013 and the winter of 2010.
