It remains unclear whether flights to and from Gatwick airport, Britain’s second busiest airport, will continue as normal from today, after the airport was ground to a halt all throughout yesterday due to heavy and persistent snowfall in London.

Among the cancellations was an Air Malta flight for Gatwick, and an EasyJet flight to Malta. Flights to and from Edinburgh airport in Scotland were also cancelled, including a Ryanair flight to Malta.

Heathrow airport, however, remained open.

A foreign news portal reported a spokeswoman for Gatwick as saying: “We brought in extra people to try to clear the runway. We had a vast army of people. But as fast as they were clearing the snow, the quicker it settled again.

“We have had about 6 inches of snow and more is forecast, so we have taken the decision to cease flights.”

Passengers already at the airport are being looked after, she said, and efforts are being made to help them with transport to return home or find hotels.

With temperatures plummeting to minus six degree Celcius in London, more snowfall is predicted in the UK till tomorrow.

Eurostar train services were also delayed by an hour because of snow in northern France as well as the UK, while scores of other train services have been cancelled.

The snow has wrought havoc across most of the UK for the past two days, with UK news portals estimating that as many as 3,000 schools are to remain closed until the snow clears.