The unexpected and sudden heavy rain that started merely hours ago, combined with harsh winds means that closed airspace over swaths of Europe, including Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine. These disruptions are expected to continue into the new week.

Due to several airplanes being forced to land prematurely during the day, several airports started delaying the flights, including the major Henri Coandă International Airport in Bucharest and Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul. The threat to the airplanes is expected to continue, as Ryanair admitted to finding that two planes had damaged engines (although at first, the airline said they were "separate technical problems unrelated to the weather conditions.") Some airlines are already seeing the effect of the bad weather on their business and this is likely to continue as people make plans for their vacations.

Officials state that, in case of poor weather, the airports in the Balkan area may shut down temporarily.

Bucharest, Romania

23/10/2012