Storms in Europe strand travellers in Montreal

Hundreds of airline passengers across Canada are stranded as a blast of nasty winter weather hits Europe causing flight delays and cancellations.

Snow and ice have shut down runways at London's Heathrow and other major airports in European cities such as Paris, Frankfurt, Brussels, and Florence.

Dominik Rozkrut is trying to get home to Poland for the holidays but his Air Canada flight, which was supposed to leave Montreal on Sunday, was cancelled because it was due to go through London.

"I'm worried because, actually, my father has gone to the hospital and I would really like to get there quickly, so it's double the problem," he said.

Rozkrut, who came to Quebec on business on Dec. 9, has managed to get a flight to Berlin out of Trudeau International Airport on Wednesday. From there, he plans to rent a car and drive to Poland.

Griba Furtado's niece was scheduled to fly to India with a connection at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Furtado said the young woman is getting married over the holidays but she's now stranded in Montreal trying to make alternate plans.

"They wanted to be there early, so they tried other means. Hopefully it works out," said Furtado.

Canadian airline officials are urging passengers to check the status of their flights online before heading to the airport.

Air Canada issued a travel advisory on Monday saying it would have only five flights from Heathrow to Canada "including two to Toronto and one each to Halifax, Calgary and Vancouver and there will be one flight in during the day from Dublin."

In the press release, the airline says it is awaiting information from Heathrow before determining "which flights from Canada will operate to London in the evening of Dec. 20."

"We are going to work very, very hard to get people to their destinations," said Air Canada spokesperson Isabelle Arthur.

"But our ability to increase capacity is very very limited due to slot constraints at Heathrow."