Over 200 flights cancelled in Istanbul because of snow

ISTANBUL (AFP): More than 200 Thursday flights have been cancelled at Istanbul’s two airports because of expected snowfall, Turkey’s top airlines said.

Turkey’s national flag carrier, Turkish Airlines, said on Wednesday that it had cancelled 185 flights at Istanbul airport on Thursday, 114 of them domestic and 71 international.

The airline cancelled another 20 domestic flights of AnadoluJet, its subsidiary budget carrier, at the smaller Sabiha Gokcen airport.

Turkish Airlines warned in a statement “the number of cancellations is likely to increase” because of the weather conditions.

Another company, Pegasus, said around 30 domestic flights expected to depart and arrive at Sabiha Gokcen airport on Thursday were now cancelled.

Nearly 50 flights on Friday were also cancelled, it said on its website.

The operator of Istanbul airport, Europe’s busiest last year, did not respond to requests for comment.

The international airport, where nearly 1,000 flights cross each day, had to suspend operations for two days because of heavy snow in January.

It was the first time the airport shut down since its inauguration in 2019 and the operator was criticised over the management of the crisis.

Hundreds of passengers were stuck at the airport, unable to fly or return to the city because the roads were blocked by snow.

The airport had been criticised before it opened for alleged environmental destruction, a lack of good transport links and the choice to build it close to the Black Sea where there is often thick fog in winter.