Heavy snow disrupts flights at Warsaw Chopin Airport

The news in Polish

1. opóźnienie  (n.)
   sytuacja, kiedy coś dzieje się później, niż było planowane ↩︎
2. odwołać
   zrezygnować z czegoś zaplanowanego, sprawić, że coś się nie odbędzie ↩︎
3. odladzać
   usuwać lód z powierzchni, na przykład z samolotu ↩︎
4. start  (m.)
   moment, kiedy coś zaczyna lecieć, jechać lub działać ↩︎
5. lotnisko  (n.)
   duże miejsce, gdzie startują i lądują samoloty ↩︎
6. bezpieczeństwo  (n.)
   stan, kiedy nic ci nie grozi i nie ma niebezpieczeństwa ↩︎

Translation

Text comprehension

Question 1: What happened to some planes instead of landing at Warsaw Chopin Airport?

Question 2: What had to be done to the planes before they could take off?

Vocabulary

Polish	English
opóźnienie  (n.)	delay
odwołać	to cancel
odladzać	to de-ice
start  (m.)	start
lotnisko  (n.)	airport
bezpieczeństwo  (n.)	safety

Read the full story

Heavy snowfall in Poland has temporarily disrupted air traffic at Warsaw Chopin Airport, the country’s busiest aviation hub. On Sunday evening, intensive snow forced airport services to carry out repeated runway clearing, leading to delays, flight diversions and several cancellations.

According to the airport’s press office, the runway had to be cleared regularly to remain safe for landings and take-offs. During these operations, aircraft approaching Warsaw were not allowed to land and had to remain in so‑called “holding” patterns, circling above the city until the runway was ready again. For a period of time, landings on one of the airport’s two runways were fully suspended.

Because of the difficult conditions, several incoming flights were diverted to other Polish airports. Two scheduled LOT Polish Airlines services, one from Bucharest and one from Istanbul, were sent to Poznań to wait out the weather and refuel. Later in the evening, a flight from Madrid was redirected to Wrocław, while an aircraft from Copenhagen also landed in Poznań. Airline representatives said the diverted planes would refuel and then return to Warsaw with passengers once conditions allowed.

The snow also caused flight cancellations. LOT cancelled its Sunday evening service from Warsaw to Zielona Góra. Information on the airport’s website showed that some connections to Wrocław and Gdańsk were also called off. Both the airline and the airport advised passengers to check the latest status of their flights online before travelling to the airport.

Departures from Chopin Airport were affected as well. Aircraft needed to undergo de‑icing before take-off, a standard safety procedure in snowy or very cold weather. During de‑icing, ground crews remove snow and ice from the aircraft using a hot mixture of glycol and water. Although the process usually takes only several minutes, it is not built into normal timetables, so it quickly leads to departure delays when many planes require treatment at the same time.

By around 23:00 local time, airport officials reported that operations had largely returned to normal, although some delays were still possible as traffic recovered. Throughout the disruption, airport authorities repeatedly stressed that flight safety remains the top priority, and that snow-clearing and de‑icing activities would continue as needed.

Warsaw Chopin Airport is the largest airport in Poland and an important transport hub in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2024 it handled almost 21.3 million passengers, the highest number in its history, and by late 2025 that figure had already been surpassed. This scale of traffic means that any weather‑related disruption can have a rapid impact on large numbers of travellers.

The winter weather also affected other airports in the region. In Gdańsk, in northern Poland, heavy snow beginning on Saturday evening caused considerable difficulties. The airport remained officially open, but some flight crews decided not to attempt landing in the conditions. In total, around 14 flights were either cancelled or diverted, including services to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Warsaw. Many other flights experienced delays while airport staff worked continuously to clear snow from runways and taxiways. Officials in Gdańsk described the situation as dynamic and dependent on changing weather.

Reports from elsewhere in Europe showed that Poland was not alone in facing winter‑related flight problems. In Kittilä, a town in Finnish Lapland, temperatures dropped to about –37°C, making de‑icing and other technical operations extremely challenging. As a result, all flights from the local airport were cancelled, leaving thousands of tourists stranded. Meteorologists there warned that the harsh cold, with temperatures close to –40°C, could continue.

The recent events highlight how winter weather can quickly disrupt air travel, even at well‑equipped airports. In Poland, aviation authorities and airport services emphasised that they were closely monitoring conditions and adjusting operations with passenger safety and smooth recovery of traffic as their main goals.

Info: ‘Polish Learner News’ is a service from ‘Let’s Learn Polish’, a language school dedicated to teaching Polish through various types of online courses, designed to help you learn to speak Polish at your own pace. Through this service, we provide updates, materials and guidance to support your ongoing study of the language.