Almost 1,300 flights cancelled in Scotland due to snow chaos

Almost 1,300 flights were cancelled across Scotland's two busiest airports in just three days as the country was gripped by heavy snowfall.

The Scotsman can reveal 671 flights have not gone ahead at Edinburgh Airport since the start of Wednesday, leaving travellers stranded.

Those cancellations included 247 today despite the airport starting to steadily allow more departures as snowfall eased.

And a further 584 were cancelled at Glasgow’s main airport across the same period, adding to the travel chaos across the Central Belt of Scotland caused by the region’s highest snowfall in 20 years.

A total of 1,255 flights have been called off across the two transport hubs in the past 72 hours.

Prestwick has handled 26 diverted flights from Glasgow and Edinburgh amid the travel crisis, carrying 3,500 passengers during the snowfall.

Ninety per cent of flights going out of Edinburgh were cancelled yesterday.

Edinburgh Airport: Many flights have been cancelled due to the weather. Picture: TSPL

That figure dipped to a 68 per cent cancellation rate today after one in two flights out of the Scottish capital were not allowed to take off on Wednesday.

More than 100 flights were able to leave Edinburgh today as operations steadily started to resume despite the city’s difficult weather conditions.

The final flight is due to depart the transport hub at 8:50pm tonight.

Airport chiefs have announced the hub will be open tomorrow for “business as usual”.

Edinburgh Airport: Many flights have been cancelled due to the weather. Picture: TSPL

“The weather warnings suggests no significant snow at Edinburgh Airport overnight,” an airport spokeswoman said.

“Our airfield and snow clearance teams have done an amazing job throughout the day and we have a clear runway and ramp.

“We have had confirmation from our airlines that most intend to fly a full schedule tomorrow, including British Airways, Jet2.com and FlyBe.

“However, due to weather disruption at other European airports, there have been some cancellations and may be more tomorrow morning.

“Ryanair and easyJet have confirmed early morning cancellations – easyJet’s early morning Alicante is the only scheduled early flight with the full schedule to commence from 10am.

“Ryanair has cancelled two early Dublin flights before their full schedule begins later in the morning. Aer Lingus have confirmed a three-hour delay on their flight to Cork. Please check their websites for full details.

“As this situation is very fluid, it is important that passengers check with their airline regarding their flight details before travelling to the airport tomorrow

A Qatar Airlines plane earlier becaome the fight flight to land at Edinburgh after staff worked through the night to ensure runways were up and running.

The airport deployed a fleet of 4x4s to ensure essential staff could get to the site on the west of the city.

A yellow weather warning remains in place.