PARIS

  French aviation authorities asked airlines to cancel about one-third of the flights into and out of Paris' main airport Friday because of freezing conditions, once again stranding hundreds of passengers a day before Christmas.
The authorities at Paris' main Charles de Gaulle airport north of the capital evacuated some 2,000 travelers from the 2E terminal due to an accumulation of snow on the roof, French news agency AFP reported. The terminal's roof partly collapsed in 2004 shortly after the building was put into service, killing four passengers and injuring six others.
The precautionary evacuation was decided while emergency workers cleared some 50 centimeters of snow from the roof.
The French Civil Aviation Authority had asked airlines to cancel around half of flights early Friday. At 1200 GMT, it scaled back that cancellation rate to 35%.
Charles de Gaulle airport is running low on reserves of ethylene glycol, the liquid used to de-ice planes, said Eric Heraud, a spokesman for the General Direction of Civilian Aviation.
The problem has been compounded by a strike at the main plant that makes de-icing fluid in France, Transportation Minister Thierry Mariani said in a radio interview with France Inter.
Airlines canceled 400 flights due to land or take off from Charles de Gaulle Friday morning, Heraud told Dow Jones Newswires.
Aeroports de Paris (ADP.FR), the state-controlled airport operator, said on its Twitter account that planned flights were operating with delays of between one and one and a half hours.
Hundreds of passengers had already spent the night at the airport after some 50 flights were canceled Thursday evening, said Elise Hermant, a spokeswoman for Aeroports de Paris.
The airport had only just cleared the backlog from flight delays caused by bad weather earlier in the week.
Scores of trains were also late or canceled in France Friday morning. But the situation at Orly, the other big airport in Paris, was described as normal.
Airlines are supposed to reimburse stranded passengers or to reschedule flights and offer lodging, but the hotel capacity around the airport is limited and "some airlines don't play the game," Heraud said.