French flights snarled by winter weather

Freezing temperatures and heavy snow continued to wreak havoc for European travellers Friday, even prompting the evacuation of a terminal atCharles de Gaulle Airport near Paris.

Travellerswere forced to leave theterminal in Roissy shortly after noon local time for fear heavy snow could forcepart of the airport's roof to collapse.

Up to 2,000 people were forced to leave Terminal 2E as emergency workers were deployed to clear the roof, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported.

An airport authority official told Britain's Guardian newspaper that theterminal was still operating but passengers had been asked to move.

Le Monde reported that about 60 cm of snow had built up on the roof of the terminal and about 2,000 people had been evacuated. Firefighters have been sent in to clear the snow.

Earlier reports that the roof had collapsed proved incorrect.

The evacuation was just the latest in a long string of headaches for travellers at France's busiest airport.

On Friday morning, the country's civil aviation authority asked airlines flying into Charles de Gaulle to reduce their flightsby halfbecause of a shortage of glycol, which is used to de-ice planes.

By Friday evening,670 of 1,160 flights had been cancelled, Le Monde newspaper reported, forcing stranded travellers to sleep on the floor on cots provided by the airport.

Getting people home was "our goal for tonight," Air France ground official Michel Emeyriat said on the iTele TV channel.

"We will do everything so that our planes can take off with everyone," he said. Christmas Eve is traditionally when the French eat their Christmas meal.

Problems persist across Europe

In Britain, major airports said services were operating largely as normal as the country thawed out from days of frosty weather.

But those travelling by rail or road faced reduced services or ice; about a quarter of services were cancelled on some rail routes.

And in Ireland, travel chaos loomed as Aer Lingus and Ryanair airlines voiced fears they might have to reduce flights because of the chance of snow. On Thursday, an unexpected blizzard dumped 20 centimetres of snow on Dublin Airport, which had to close three times during the day.

"It's terrible, it really is. The conditions were just so bad at the airport yesterday. It was a blizzard and it wasn't expected," said Siobhan Moore, a spokeswoman for Dublin Airport.

Thousands of stranded passengers are "tired and stressed and emotional, all entirely understandable at this time of year," she said.

In Germany, Duesseldorf airport was closed temporarily and some 65 flights cancelled on Friday morning because of new snowfall.