LONDON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Christmas was canceled for nearly a million air travelers as London Heathrow Airport said flights would be delayed or canceled through at least this weekend.
Hundreds of thousands of people may not find seats until the New Year, Heathrow operator BAA Ltd. acknowledged, as snow, ice and frigid temperatures also turned road and rail travel into chaos.
The severe weather grounded flights and disrupted travel throughout northern Europe, with the French army removing stranded cars in Paris.
High-speed Eurostar trains between France and Britain were forced to run slowly, adding hours to trips. Passengers at central London's St. Pancras railway station waited up to 7 hours in a line more than a mile long to board trains.
More than 1,500 flights were canceled at Germany's Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin airports.
At Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, travelers spent a fourth night Monday into Tuesday sleeping on cold floors in terminal buildings, hoping to get a flight.
Former British Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis accused BAA of making Britain look like a "Third World country," The Daily Telegraph reported.
He accused the operator of "chronic underinvestment" in the equipment and people needed to keep the airport running.
The company -- expected to announce pretax profits of more than $1.5 billion this year -- spent $1.2 million on snow equipment, the Telegraph said.
"The investments that we made were applicable to a typical British winter," a BAA spokesman said. "Looking forward we are going to have to consider what we have."
British Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said his office was working with BAA -- a private company owned by a consortium led by Spanish infrastructure specialist Ferrovial SA -- to ensure Heathrow remained open and operating in the event of more heavy snow.
As snowfall persisted, forecasters predicted record-low temperatures of minus 17 degrees Fahrenheit Thursday.
