European Union transport commissioner Siim Kallas has praised the improved performance of airports across Europe during the current cold weather and heavy snowfall spell, saying that European Commission suggestions made last year had been taken to heart.

While it was still "early days" to make a final assessment as there may be more extreme weather to come, Kallas said that airports in the EU had made "significant improvements" in terms of how well they were prepared for heavy snowfall.

"The infrastructure to deal with snow and extreme winter conditions in airports has improved. Investments made over the last year are paying off – in terms of, for example, the necessary de-icing equipment, and snow clearing equipment available," Kallas said in a statement. Airports were also showing improvement in procedures, allowing to clear runways and de-icing planes quicker.

Airports were also showing signs of better co-ordination and providing passengers with accurate real-time information, allowing in many cases passengers to avoid coming to airports when their flights were cancelled.

"Coping with disruption on the network, goes to the heart of preventing travel disruption for passengers. There has been a significant improvement in terms of the co-ordination between the network manager (Eurocontrol), the airports, airlines and National Air Traffic Managers. This has allowed [Eurocontrol] to minimise the impact on the European air transport network, to manage available capacity on the network more efficiently and, where necessary, assist the diversion and priority repositioning of flights," Kallas said.

"This year's extreme conditions are different to those we saw last year – but they are still very challenging. We do see already that lessons have been learnt. This progress has benefited passengers in 2012 – allowing many more to travel safely and uninterrupted on their journeys," he said.