Europe’s busiest airport in Istanbul delayed its reopening on Tuesday and Greece declared a public holiday as the eastern Mediterranean neighbours began digging themselves out of a rare snowstorm that ground their capitals to a halt, IgbereTV reports.
Turkish officials ordered all private vehicles off the snow-clogged streets of Istanbul while the Greek military joined rescuers in trying to evacuate hundreds of stranded drivers in Athens.
Major highways were closed across both countries and basic services such as food delivery were shut down.
But much of the international attention focused on the fate of Istanbul’s main airport — a gleaming glass-and-steel structure that offers connecting flights spanning much of the world.
A blizzard on Monday closed Istanbul Airport for the first time since it took over from the old Ataturk Airport as the new hub for Turkish Airlines in 2019.
Its press service pushed backed its planned reopening hours a handful of times before admitting defeat and shutting it down for the night.
An airport official told AFP that workers were trying to clear one of the runways on Tuesday so that airborne flights could land from Mexico and the United States
