Operations at Munich Airport have been suspended

Due to continuing snowfall, rail, road and air traffic will be severely affected in large parts of southern Germany on Saturday. Deutsche Bahn’s operations currently operate only on a limited scale. Munich police asked drivers on Saturday morning to avoid unnecessary trips. Operations at Munich Airport have been suspended.

Passengers in Ulm and Munich spend the night on the train

Deutsche Bahn assumes that the restrictions will continue until Monday. A railway spokeswoman said: “We recommend postponing trips to and from Munich.” In any case, Munich’s main train station is not accessible. Long-distance traffic stopped completely. This means that flights from the Bavarian capital to Salzburg, Innsbruck, Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Lindau/Zurich have been cancelled.

It was also said that train cancellations and delays due to weather may also occur in other parts of southern Germany. All passengers who wish to postpone their planned trip in southern Germany due to the onset of winter can use their ticket at a later time. The train connection has been lifted.

Snow and ice disrupted roads and railways in southern Bavaria on Saturday evening. According to information from Deutschlandfunk, about 100 traffic jams with a length of at least ten kilometers occurred in Bavaria on Saturday. In Ulm and Munich, passengers had to spend the night on trains. As the German News Agency (DPA) correspondent reported, a train coming from Stuttgart had to be transferred to a hotel train at Ulm main station in the early hours of the morning. Deutsche Bahn also provided a train for passengers stranded at Munich Central Station.

Flight operations in Munich have been suspended until Sunday

Flight operations are also affected. There is nothing working at Munich Airport at the moment. Air traffic is expected to be suspended until Sunday at 6 am. 760 flights have been canceled so far. Indeed, more than 150 takeoffs and landings at Munich Airport were canceled on Friday due to the weather. A spokesman said that the reasons for this were snowfall and low temperatures at the airport.

Flight cancellations at Munich Airport are also causing delays at Frankfurt Airport. About 20 planes that were supposed to land in Munich were diverted to Frankfurt. According to a spokesperson, Frankfurt Airport’s capacity has now been exhausted and no further transfers can be made.

Memmingen Airport in Allgäu was also forced to temporarily halt flight operations.

Risk of avalanches and power outages

According to Bavarian radio information, the depth of snow in Munich reached 45 cm late Saturday afternoon. The community of Rothalmünster in Lower Bavaria reported 73cm of fresh snow on Saturday morning. The avalanche warning service in Bavaria announced that there is a “high” risk of avalanches in the Bavarian Alps due to fresh snow. Bavarian State Agriculture Minister Michaela Käneper (CSU) warned against walking in the forest due to the risk of falling branches or falling trees.

On Saturday, the electricity company Bayernwerke announced a power outage to “several thousand homes.” Power lines may be damaged by fallen trees. According to information from Bayerischer Rundfunk, several places in the Upper Palatinate, Upper Bavaria and Lower Bavaria regions have been affected.

The German League football match between Bayern Munich and Union Berlin on Saturday was also cancelled. It was said that due to security risks for all participants, it was decided not to blow the whistle for the match.

Early Saturday evening, the German Meteorological Service (DWD) lifted the warning for heavy snowfall in Bavaria. However, the snow is likely to continue: in parts of Baden-Württemberg, temperatures are expected to reach minus 14 degrees on Sunday night, and in the Alps, minus 16 degrees.

With DPA materials.