Police were called to restore order at Frankfurt airport Saturday after angry passengers threatened violence as nerves snapped after days of delays caused by heavy snow all over Europe, DPA reported.
Witnesses said a near riot developed in a crowded terminal where a queue of hundreds had built up near Lufthansa check-in desks.
With a lack of updated information , travellers believed Lufthansa agents were working too slowly.
An airport spokesman said Frankfurt - Germany's biggest airport - cancelled 172 Saturday flights up to midday. Some passengers have been stuck in Frankfurt since Friday, when 560 out of 1,400 flights were cancelled.
The airport said its own runways were open, but other key destinations were shut.
Frankfurt Airport has not coped well with this winter's problems, which have worsened with huge numbers of people trying to fly home for Christmas holidays.
A week ago, there was a spat between Lufthansa and the Ukrainian government after the German airline refused to rebook 200 stranded Ukrainians onto other airlines so they could return home.
Lufthansa in turn has blamed the airport company, complaining it was not de-icing jets fast enough.
The airport company concedes that a new computer system to plan takeoffs and landings has not worked properly.
But the airport retorted that airlines also bore blame for delays this month because they were too penny-pinching to keep reserve crews in Frankfurt. An airport spokesman disclosed that some jets had been grounded because crews needed to sleep.
Police calm angry passengers as tempers fray at Frankfurt airport
Police were called to restore order at Frankfurt airport Saturday after angry passengers threatened violence as nerves snapped after days of delays caused by heavy snow all over Europe.
