Disruptions to flights and high-speed train travel in continental Europe and Britain, have created travel chaos for tens of thousands of travelers in the busy Christmas period following heavy weekend snowfalls.

Cold weather was likely to clip fourth quarter growth in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, Volker Treier, chief economist at Germany's DIHK chamber of industry and commerce, said.

German railways put on more trains to help stranded air travelers reach their destinations but in France the national aviation authority asked airlines to reduce services as a precaution after more snow was forecast.

In Britain, the bad weather has caused severe delays to rail services across northern and central districts and forecasters said more heavy snow was on the way.

Travel havoc has triggered calls for legislation to force airports to deal more effectively with bad weather.

London's Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport, and Frankfurt Airport, the biggest on the continent, said on their websites that operations were returning to normal after severe disruptions.

The French aviation authority asked airlines to cut services by 15 percent later on Wednesday and 25 percent on Thursday at the country's busiest airport, Charles de Gaulle to the north of Paris.

On Tuesday, thousands were forced to queue in the cold for hours around London's St. Pancras station as all Eurostar's seats were taken by travelers bounced from airlines.