受極端天氣影響，歐洲大部分國家本周繼續遭遇暴雪，導致多數航班延誤或取消，數千乘客滯留機場。為安撫乘客情緒，德國法蘭克福國際機場特意請四名小丑到候機大廳表演。這四名小丑身穿顏色鮮艷的演出服，有的還踩著高蹺走來走去。據機場發言人稱，滯留在機場的很多乘客都帶著孩子，對他們來說這樣漫長的等待顯得更加難熬，于是在會想出請小丑來表演的主意，幫他們打發時間。

?A clown on stilts trys to entertain air passengers as they wait for flights at the airport the central German city of Frankfurt am Main on December 19. Frankfurt airport. (Agencies)

With travellers frazzled by hundreds of flight cancellations, Germany's busiest airport has hired clowns to help them and their children pass the hours, a spokeswoman said Monday.

"Four clowns are performing in the terminal halls," the spokeswoman for Frankfurt's international airport told AFP.

"We came up with the idea for the kids, who are finding the delays particularly trying."

The clowns, outfitted in brightly coloured costumes and some parading on stilts, started working over the weekend, when heavy snowfall led to hundreds of flights being scrapped amid chaos in the European air traffic network.

Fights broke out at the airport among stressed-out holiday travellers late Friday, according to press reports, leading police to send in reinforcements.

More than 1,000 stranded passengers had to spend the night from Sunday to Monday at the airport, where camp beds were set up in the terminals.

On Sunday about half of Frankfurt's scheduled 1,329 flights were grounded, mainly because other airports around Europe were closed due to extreme winter weather.

Over 340 flights were axed by the early afternoon on Monday.

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(Agencies)

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）