Heavy snow leaves SIA passengers stranded in Sapporo over the weekend

Nearly 200 Singapore Airlines passengers who were stranded in Hokkaido for a couple of days due to heavy snow returned to Singapore on Monday. Flight SQ661 from Sapporo, capital city of Hokkaido, was originally scheduled to depart on Friday at 8.55am local time with 192 passengers and 12 crew but it was delayed because of poor weather. It was rescheduled to leave the next day but was further delayed as the runways at Chitose airport remained closed. Heavy snow over the weekend disrupted flight and train services throughout the region, with more than 240 flights cancelled at Chitose airport, reported Japanese media. Due to a shortage of hotel rooms, SIA said some of its passengers had to lay over at the airport terminal, adding that blankets, meal boxes and breakfast vouchers were issued to those affected. The passengers finally left Sapporo on SQ9661 on Sunday at 4.53pm (Singapore time) and arrived in Singapore at about 1am on Monday.<br/>