Friday, December 16, 2011

European Commission - Siim Kallas: Statement on winter snow preparedness – airports

With Christmas just around the corner, everyone living in Brussels and throughout Europe remembers last year's holiday season with trepidation.

During Christmas week, there was a snow blizzard that covered all of Brussels, wreaking havoc with all forms of transportation, especially air transport. Overall, 35,000 flights were cancelled Europe wide and tens of thousands of people were stranded. This not only caused problems with the flight scheduling, and people's personal schedules, but there were also major problems with baggage handling, with many pieces of luggage having been lost or delivered late. And of course, the infamous occurrence of when the Brussels airport ran out of material that melts the snow to keep the runways, and airplanes, ice free.

This was the topic of the recent speech given by Commissioner for Transport Siim Kallas. He cited all of last year's problems, and met with representatives of major European airports, including the Brussels Airport, making clear to them that “they needed to raise their game” this year. He said: “I am pleased to say that their response has been positive. Serious deficiencies and weak links have been identified and are being addressed. We have detailed reports from the major hubs on their preparedness for winter operations. Heathrow, for example, tell us they have three times more snow ploughs, trained drivers and other necessary equipment – and they are really better prepared. We have the same message from the other key airports most involved in the winter snow disruption last year, including Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt. In addition, the ACI (Airports Council International) assure me that all the airports affected by heavy now last year have taken serious steps to reinforce their preparedness and resilience.”

Of course, being prepared on the ground is not the only issue that was discussed. Another important topic that was on the whole lacking last year was passenger information at the airports. Airport representatives have plans this year to make more use of social media “to make sure that more people don't come to the airports without any reason if there are no flights going”.

Kallas, though, reassured that everything will run smoothly this year: “I very much hope that the contingency planning put in place by the airports this year will be sufficient. After all, contingency planning for winter should be normal business practice for any sector.”

http://www.neurope.eu

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