Barcelona/Madrid  - Outgoing flights were resumed at Madrid's Barajas airport Friday afternoon after more than five hours of suspending operations owing to snowfall, the airport operator AENA said.

The airport was also about to resume landings after more than 50 flights were diverted to other airports.

Only 268 of the 1,205 scheduled flights had taken place before operations were suspended.

Long queues of passengers formed at the airport, which has also been affected by an alleged unofficial work to rule stoppage by pilots of the Spanish airline Iberia.

Snowfall hampered road and rail traffic mainly in north-eastern and central Spain, causing huge traffic jams in Madrid and preventing thousands of children from attending school in several regions.

The cold wave claimed a possible victim when police found the body of a homeless woman near a Barcelona railway station.

Police said she appeared to have frozen to death.

The cold wave was expected to abate from Sunday onwards. (dpa)