Istanbul Permits First Flights After Snow Pummels Mediterranean

Istanbul, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Jan, 2022 ) :Europe's busiest airport in Istanbul welcomed its first flight in 24 hours on Tuesday and Greece declared a public holiday as the eastern Mediterranean neighbours began digging out of a rare snowstorm that ground their capitals to a halt.

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 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.

It tweeted an image on Tuesday of the first flight since Monday afternoon landing from the Venezuelan capital Caracas after one of the runways was cleared to accept a few flights.

But only one of the three runways remained opened and just a handful of the hundreds of delayed flights were scheduled to take off or land on Tuesday.