Heavy snowfall and bad weather conditions forced Turkey's flagship airline company Turkish Airlines to cancel 633 domestic and international flights, with Istanbul particularly affected on Sunday.

Cancellations were also expected to run into Monday's schedule, Efe news reported.

At least 10,000 passengers heading to Istanbul had to be accommodated in hotels as their flights were cancelled.

Around 5,000 others could not leave the country and had to be temporarily accommodated in other places, according to Turkish Airlines CEO Bilal Eksi through his Twitter account.

Local media reported that Turkish Airlines cancelled around 200 flights during the last two days of December, mostly domestic, as precautionary measures were taken in anticipation of snowfall.