Europe airports battle snow backlog

European airports are struggling to help thousands of passengers stranded after severe wintry weather paralysed parts of Europe's transport network.
Freezing temperatures, snow and ice have grounded flights, trapping travellers going home for Christmas.
Airport operators defended their handling of the crisis amid criticism from the European Commission.
Officials at the worst-affected airport, London's Heathrow, rebuffed offers to bring in the UK Army to help.
Since Saturday, when 12.7cm (five inches) of snow fell in just one hour, Heathrow airport - the world's busiest - has cancelled hundreds of flights.
The airport operator BAA said that both runways were now open but warned: "Airlines are currently operating a significantly reduced schedule while they move diverted aircraft and crew back into position."
British Airways said that in line with a directive from BAA, it would operate only a third of its normal flight schedule at Heathrow until 0600GMT today, Reuters reports.
Delays at Heathrow also had a knock-on effect on other northern European airports.
In Ireland, the Dublin Airport Authority said the airport would be closed until at least 0800GMT yesterday, the The Irish Times reports.
In Germany, Frankfurt airport cancelled 550 of almost 1,300 flights on Tuesday because of the bad weather.
Air France said that some 5,000 people spent the night at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport on Tuesday - 4,000 of whom were trying to fly into London, according to Le Monde.
While in Sweden, Scandinavian airline SAS said flights to London's Heathrow were the most problematic.
"It is the absolute worst there," SAS spokeswoman Elisabeth Manzi told The Local.

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