Thousands of vacationers left stranded in Lapland as flights are cancelled throughout -37C chilly snap

Thousands of tourists have been left stranded in Finland‘s Lapland after flights were cancelled due to the severe cold.

Temperatures at Kittila Airport plummeted to -37C (-34.6F) yesterday morning following several days of freezing weather.

Officials said the conditions made de-icing aircraft, as well as maintenance and refuelling, extremely difficult.

Lapland spans northern Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Kittila Airport, located in Finnish Lapland in the sparsely populated north, serves tourists heading to nearby ski resorts and to see the Northern Lights.

Cancelled flights included those heading to London, Manchester, Paris and Amsterdam.

Mark Abbey from Birmingham said at Kittila Airport yesterday that the situation is a ‘nightmare’

Christine Wayne, who is from England, said she will have to fly home from Helsinki to Heathrow

Thousands of tourists have been left stranded at Kittila Airport in Finland, pictured yesterday

Heavy snowfall, high winds and icy roads have also made local travel difficult.

Finns are generally used to frosty winter temperatures but this year’s cold, which has affected wide regions of northern, central and eastern Europe, is more severe than in other years. 

The region usually has an average temperature of -14C (6.8F) during winter with occasional dips to -30C (-22F), according to the nation’s tourism board.

The deep freeze is expected to continue today, with the Finnish Meteorological Institute predicting temperatures of almost -40C (-40F).

Today’s first scheduled flight was cancelled last night.

People walk in freezing temperatures in Ylläs in Finland last Friday, 30 miles away from Kittila

A person walks past a display showing a temperature of -33C in Ylläs in Finland last Friday

A file photograph of tourists arriving at Kittila Airport in northern Finland in December 2024

Heavy snowfall, high winds and icy roads have made travel difficult in other parts of Europe.

In Germany, train passengers were still experiencing long delays and cancellations on Sunday after rail operator Deutsche Bahn shut down all services in the north of the country on Friday due to strong snowfall.

Authorities announced that all schools would remain closed and switch to online classes today in North Rhine-Westphalia, the country’s most populous western state, after forecasts of icy roads across the region.

In the Baltic countries of Estonia and Lithuania, drivers were asked to postpone all non-essential travel because of expected blizzards, while neighbouring Latvia issued a snow alert for the west of the country.

* Are you stuck at Kittila Airport? Please email: [email protected] *