Heathrow snow report released; BAA to spend £50m improving resilience
25.03.11
Airport operator BAA will invest £50 million at Heathrow to make sure there is no repeat of the snow problems that caused chaos and misery for passengers last Christmas. The operator announced the move to coincide with the publishing of a report it commissioned into the bad weather last December that saw 4000 flights cancelled the the Christmas plans of thousands of passengers ruined.
The report by the Winter Resilience Inquiry Committee, which was chaired by David Begg, calls for 14 key changes in order to ensure better crisis management, and an improved snow plan that sets out the tasks of BAA, the airlines, the regulator and air traffic control. The changes involve better preparation, control, communication and passenger welfare and are aimed and ensuring that Heathrow never closes except for safety or other emergency threats.
It says the impact of inclement weather was ‘not fully anticipated’, airlines and BAA had no agreed plan in place for such a crisis, the airport lacked the necessary equipment to clear the snow, there was a failure of communication between the airport and the airlines, and passengers were not kept fully informed with many ‘left in distress’. It estimates that some 9,500 people slept at Heathrow on December 18.
BAA has agreed to act on all the recommendations, and spend the £50 million on better training, procedures and equipment. £10 million has already had been invested in more snow clearing equipment, while a further £10 million will be spent on a control and command centre and several million pounds on IT systems.
The airport operator will recommend the reports findings to airlines and the Civil Aviation Authority next month. However, it has also revealled that it could not implement all of the recommendations to cope with heavy snowfall aimed at preventing a repeat of events that brought the world's busiest international passenger airport to a standstill by next winter.
BAA chief executive, Colin Matthews described the recommendations as ‘challenging’ and achievable only if airlines are fully on board. They will need to decide, for example, whether to have drive-through di-icers at the ends of runways and whether aircrafts should be moved off stands so snow can be cleared more easily. He said: ‘If the entire Heathrow community learns from this report, and works more collaboratively to promote passengers' interests, then this is a pivotal moment for the airport and its reputation.’
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