Snowstorm at Gardermoen: 43 departures cancelled. Flight to Gdańsk delayed by more than 3 hours

The airport remained open throughout the day, but operated much more slowly than usual. Crews were continuously clearing snow from the area, and every aircraft had to be de-iced before take-off. “Heavy and wet snow made this a difficult day for us,” Helene W. Jensen of Avinor, the state-owned company managing airports, told VG.

According to Avinor data checked at 7:30 p.m., 43 of Thursday’s 291 departures were cancelled. These were most often domestic connections: five flights each to Stavanger and Trondheim, and three each to Bergen and Ålesund. Some international flights were also cancelled, including flights to Stockholm, Berlin, Helsinki, Amsterdam, London and Rome. Forty of 288 arrivals were also cancelled. Of the 183 aircraft that had departed so far, 97 left at least one hour behind schedule. Thirty-three were delayed by at least two hours, and 16 by at least three hours. The longest delay was nearly five hours.

By 7:30 p.m., none of the seven Thursday flights from Gardermoen to Poland had been cancelled. The morning flights were the most delayed:

• Warsaw (Norwegian, scheduled for 9:35 a.m.) – departed at 11:50 a.m.,
• Kraków (Norwegian, scheduled for 10:00 a.m.) – departed at 12:07 p.m.,
• Gdańsk (Norwegian, scheduled for 10:00 a.m.) – departed at 1:18 p.m.,
• Warsaw (LOT, scheduled for 10:40 a.m.) – departed at 12:39 p.m.

Afternoon Wizz Air flights to Kraków and Gdańsk departed 42 and 15 minutes late, respectively. LOT’s evening flight to Warsaw was moved from 7:45 p.m. to 9:10 p.m. Arrivals were also affected. A Norwegian aircraft from Gdańsk, scheduled for 1:35 p.m., landed in Oslo at 7:04 p.m.

One of the passengers described the situation on the Gdańsk-bound aircraft to VG. “We boarded as early as 10:18 a.m. and have been sitting in the cabin ever since, while the departure keeps being pushed back. We cannot leave the aircraft or buy food or drinks,” she said. The situation was similar on a flight to Rome that had been due to depart at 9:30 a.m.

At around 2:30 p.m., one passenger reported that 16 aircraft had been ahead of them in the de-icing queue half an hour earlier. “We have been on board for almost five hours and nobody has offered us food. When we ask the crew for a simple refreshment, we are told that we can get off the aircraft if we want something to eat,” he said. Catharina Solli, a Norwegian spokesperson, explained that aircraft were waiting both for snow clearing and de-icing. “We had aircraft that needed 40 minutes to reach the gate because they had to wait for snow clearing. Snowfall had been forecast, but the heavy snow is making the situation even more difficult,” she said.

At around 12:30 p.m., Flybussen, the bus service transporting passengers to the airport, suspended services on all routes until further notice. The operator said the buses could not get through because roads were blocked by other vehicles. Before travelling, check the Flybussen website to see whether buses are running again. After 1 p.m., Flytoget trains ran less frequently and some services were cancelled. From 3:10 p.m., services returned to normal, Camilla Hellum of Flytoget told VG.

Avinor asks passengers to arrive at the airport at the usual time unless their airline provides different information. The current flight status can be checked on the Oslo Airport website and in the carrier’s app. For a delay of at least two hours on a route of up to 1,500 km, the airline should provide food and drinks. This includes short flights from Oslo to Gdańsk, Warsaw and Kraków. These rules are described by Forbrukerrådet, the Norwegian Consumer Council. If you pay for food yourself, keep your receipts.

When a delay reaches five hours, you may withdraw from the flight and request a refund for your ticket. Compensation (€250–€600) is not payable if the flight was delayed by circumstances beyond the airline’s control, such as bad weather. However, it is the carrier that must prove this was the case. We explained how to change a booking or get your money back if an airline cancels a flight altogether in the guide “How to organise a trip after a flight from Norway is cancelled?”.

A yellow snow warning for Oslo, Akershus, Østfold, Vestfold, Lower Buskerud and southern Innlandet remains in force on Thursday until 9 p.m. Meteorologist Johanne Ordahl from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute told Dagbladet that the snowfall would stop overnight. However, many places may be slippery on Friday morning, so she advises allowing extra time to get to work. Read also: Snow disrupts commuting. When will Ruter reimburse a taxi?