Istanbul airport stays shut as snow pummels Mediterranean

Europe's busiest airport in Istanbul delayed its reopening on Tuesday and Greece declared a public holiday as the eastern Mediterranean neighbours began digging themselves out of a rare snowstorm that ground their capitals to a halt.

Turkish officials ordered all private vehicles off the snow-clogged streets of Istanbul while the Greek military joined rescuers in trying to evacuate hundreds of stranded drivers in Athens.

Major highways were closed across both countries and basic services such as food delivery shut down.

But much of the international attention focused on the fate of Istanbul's main airport -- a gleaming glass-and-steel structure that offers connecting flights spanning much of the world.

A blizzard on Monday closed Istanbul Airport for the first time since it took over from the old Ataturk Airport as the new hub for Turkish Airlines in 2019.

Its press service pushed back its planned reopening hours a handful of times before admitting defeat and shutting it down for the night.

An airport official said that workers were trying to clear one of the runways on Tuesday so that airborne flights could land from Mexico and the United States.

But Turkish Airlines decided to suspend all operations at its main international hub until midnight.

Istanbul Airport serviced more than 37 million passengers last year despite disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Yet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's critics had long questioned his decision to place the airport on a remote patch along the Black Sea coast that is often covered with fog in winter.

Istanbul's second airport on its Asian side near the Sea of Marmara stayed open throughout the storm.