Amsterdam's busy Schiphol airport was Wednesday battening down for a severe storm, with dozens of flights already cancelled or facing delays.

Meteorologists have warned that much of the country will be hit on Thursday by strong westerly winds gusting up to 120 kilometres (75 miles) an hour.

At one of Europe's busiest airhubs, officials warned passengers that "air traffic to and from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol will experience disruptions as a result of stormy weather on Thursday, 18 January".

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KLM said it was cancelling 220 flights -- 110 departing within Europe and 110 returning -- as runway capacity will be "severely limited" and "heavy winds will also make it impossible to continue ground handling operations" between 0900 GMT and 1100 GMT. 

Schiphol, one of Europe's busiest airhubs, has also secured all free-standing equipment and halted all maintenance work.

The national NS train service meanwhile cautioned that fewer trains will be running, as the national weather office warned parts of the northeast could be hit by snow.

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