Munich Airport (MUC/EDDM) has been experiencing 5 days of severe disruption thanks to severe weather conditions affecting swathes of Central Europe. As well as flights to the airport featuring regularly in our most tracked list, the airport has frequently ranked number 1 on Flightradar24’s Airport Disruption Index for delays and cancellations to both arriving and departing air traffic.
The issues have been caused by snowfall and freezing rain (heavy snowfall makes ground movements more challenging and freezing rain requires more regular de-icing of aircraft). On the fifth consecutive day of disruption at one of Europe’s busiest airports, we took a look at the data behind the delays and cancellations of flights, and the airlines most affected by the airport’s rolling closures.
Delays and cancellations at Munich
Using our cancellations data, we can map the percentage of total scheduled departures and arrivals that were canceled on a daily basis.
Our data reveals Saturday December 2 was the worst individual day of disruption, with 82% of arriving flights and 92% of departing flights canceled.
The weather reported at 09:20 UTC on December 2 explains the disruption clearly, with the METAR below indicating snow (SN), mist (BR), and significant cloud layer at just 100 feet above the airport,.
“020920Z AUTO 31004KT 1700 SN BR OVC001 M01/M03 Q1003 NOSIG=”
This severe level of disruption continued into Sunday, December 03 when 79% of arrivals and 77% of departures were canceled as a result of the weather. In total, 2,437 flights were canceled as a result of severe weather conditions during the first 4 days of disruption, representing 72% of flights departing and 68% of flights arriving at Munich airport.
Which airlines are most affected?
Our data reveals that Lufthansa has been most affected by the frequent closures of Munich Airport. The German flag carrier canceled a total of 2,265 flights (1,103 departures and 1,162 arrivals). This represented 95% of Lufthansa’s total cancellations and 55% of all flights scheduled to depart or arrive at German Airports between December 1 and December 5, 2023. Air Dolomiti was also significantly affected, with notable numbers of flights between Munich and Geneva (GVA), Florence (FLR) and Venice (VCE) being canceled.
The outlook
Munich Airport announced the resumption of flying operations on X (formerly known as twitter) on December 6. Whilst this will kickstart the recovery from the past 5 days, it is likely that delays will continue throughout the week of December 4-10. You can monitor the progress of the airport’s traffic recovery on Flightradar24.com or using our Airport Disruption Index.
Cover photo: Ziv Bock, JetPhotos.
