Bad weather in Germany has led to mass cancellations of flights and trains, preventing senior officials from reaching their destinations on time. Government officials were stranded at airports and on trains, and the start of the Berlin Film Festival was threatened.
This was reported by Bild.
Due to icy conditions in Germany, a number of flights and train services were canceled, paralyzing transport and affecting the work of the government. In particular, Federal Minister of Culture Wolfram Weimer was unable to fly from Frankfurt am Main to Berlin at the scheduled time due to massive flight cancellations between the cities. After spending the night at an airport hotel, he tried to take a backup flight, but it was also canceled, so the minister traveled to Berlin by ICE high-speed train.
According to Weimer, the train was overcrowded, and traffic was temporarily halted in Erfurt due to problems with changing the train driver. He did not reach Berlin until 11:18 a.m. on Friday, arriving at Berlin-Südkreuz station. However, he was particularly concerned about the Berlinale.
“I hope that Saint Peter is a fan of the Berlinale and will give us a thaw next week,” he said.
The film festival is set to begin on February 12, with international stars expected to arrive in Berlin.
The situation with the return of Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz from the United Arab Emirates was also complicated. For several hours, it remained unclear whether the government plane would be able to fly from Abu Dhabi to Berlin, and the delegation considered changing the destination airport. It was only at 2:10 p.m. German time that it became known that the government Airbus would still be able to fly to Berlin.
Earlier, Bavarian Agriculture Minister Michaela Kanibell was also stranded in Berlin due to the snow chaos, as her flight to Munich was canceled. As a result, she missed her scheduled appearance in the state parliament.