Turkish Airlines halts flights from main hub due to snowstorm

Turkish Airlines has halted all flights from Istanbul's Ataturk airport, its main hub, until 6 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Monday as heavy snow fall hit the city for a third full day, its chief executive said on Twitter.

"Due to excessive snow fall and low visibility conditions, we have halted our flights until 6 pm local time at Ataturk airport," Bilal Eksi wrote on his Twitter account.

Subsequently he said that all domestic flights in and out of Ataturk airport, the third busiest in Europe, had been cancelled until midnight (2100 GMT) due to the adverse weather.

The snowstorm, which swept in on Friday night, forced the closure of the key Bosphorus shipping strait and led to sweeping flight cancellations, while hazardous roads left many drivers stranded in Istanbul, a city of 15 million people.