Geneva Closed?

[flybar]

All inbound flights to Geneva diverted or Cancelled this morning.
Seems unusual!! Snow?

[jongeman]

Yes, apparently. My in-laws are currently sitting on the tarmac at LYS on Jet2 from MAN

[Deeko01]

From Eurocontrol:

THE SITUATION AT GENEVA IS AS FOLLOWS
.
THE AERODROME WAS CLOSED AT 0900 DUE TO FREEZING RAIN AND ICE ON
THE RUNWAY. THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY A PERIOD OF SNOW.
.
IT REMAINS CLOSED PENDING THE DECISION OF A MEETING WHICH IS DUE
TO TAKE PLACE AT 1130 UTC.
.
IN THE MEANTIME NOTHING HAS LANDED OR DEPARTED FROM GENEVA SINCE
THE CLOSURE. SOME TRAFFIC HELD IN THE AIR FOR OVER 1 HOUR
WHILE OTHER FLIGHTS ELECTED TO DIVERT IMMEDIATELY TO LFLL OR LFLS.
.
PAKING AT BOTH LFLL AND LFLS IS LIMITED, SOME OF THE FLIGHTS THAT
THAT DIVERTED ARE WAITING TO POSITION BACK INTO LSGG.
.
TEMPERATURE AT GENEVA IS ZERO.
.
MORE INFO AS SOON AS WE HAVE IT.

[Facelookbovvered]

Nice to see its not just the UK, that gets it wrong, always, always take extra fuel at this time of year into GVA

[Buster the Bear]

Freezing rain and ice with a topping of snow, no wonder they closed the airport!

[Spitoon]

Nice to see its not just the UK, that gets it wrong...I'm no apologist for the UK's often abysmal planning for slightly unusual events but freezing rain followed by snow with a temp of zero is very difficult to handle (anywhere).

It's easy to complain about snow clearance and the like from a nice warm environment like a flight deck - I've done it myself from a TWR. But take a moment to have a think about how any airport can prepare for conditions like this - and having got this sort of stuff on the runway (and taxiways, and apron), can remove it.

[traveller42]

I've been caught in the air by Geneva airport being closed by snow. Fortunately it wasn't closed that long, we diverted to Zurich and had perhaps 1 - 1 1/2 hours on the ground before it re-opened and we got a slot.
When I asked the locals, I was told that the city of Geneva itself doesn't get that much snow - that's for the surrounding districts.
Since it doesn't get much snow, there's not a lot of money for snow clearance equipment.

[Heading North]

For info: there was a layer of ice on the RWY which they tried to get rid off. Lyon and Basel were full after a few diversions, lots of a/c diverted to Zurich, Milan, Nice. Especially in the Charter season (weekends) I would suggest to plan more fuel. Holdings are likely and if you mix it with bad weather....
Cheers