German airline Lufthansa and Munich Airport are facing fierce criticism after hundreds of passengers spent the night stranded on planes during a snowstorm, raising questions about crisis management at one of Europe’s busiest hubs, reports Anadolu.

German media strongly criticized the handling of the incident on Monday. “Merkur” newspaper titled its article “Nightmare at Munich Airport: Passengers stuck on planes all night”. The country’s top-selling tabloid Bild challenged officials’ description of the experience as “disturbing”, asking: “Are you serious?”.

Around 500 passengers were affected in total, according to media reports. The crisis began on Thursday evening when heavy snowfall led to cancellations, stranding passengers on five Lufthansa Group flights to Singapore, Copenhagen, Gdansk, Graz and Venice.

Aviation expert and pilot Mirko Miesen sharply criticized the response. “At this point, I really wonder why people are treated with such ignorance, knowing that they are sitting there in an enclosed space, maybe even with children, maybe with the elderly, in an enclosed space on a passenger plane,” he told the n-tv news channel.

Lufthansa said in a statement that the planes had to stay in a remote parking area in accordance with airport regulations. Terminal gates were unavailable and airport buses were in short supply, delaying the disembarkation of passengers.

“Crews continuously informed guests and offered them the best possible care with drinks and food available on board,” the airline said.

A Munich Airport spokesman attributed the chaos to “very tense” weather conditions overnight from Thursday to Friday, which caused widespread delays and cancellations.

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Source: prizrenpost