Wednesday 8 February 2012

Heathrow

There has often been talk of needing a third runway at Heathrow, though now the question is more clearly, why? Please don't tell me that an additional runway would have meant the recent chaotic response to a little snow would have been alleviated, it wouldn't. The problem at Heathrow is the people that run it, not the amount of tarmac.

It was fair, we were told that Heathrow should not 'invest' in adequate snow clearing equipment as it doesn't snow much in Britain. Or to put that another way, Britain should accept that when it snows, Heathrow will shut. Well, they said, when you put it like that.......

And so £32 million is spent on more ploughs etc and the next time it snows, the airport management, not to be caught out this time, swing into action, cancelling flights before the snow arrives. Ah, was the latest claim, we needed to 'build slack' into the system to allow for the extra time it takes to de-ice aeroplanes. But you de-ice when it is cold, not just when it snows and every other airport seems to be managing. Amsterdam, which isn't closer to the Arctic and therefore bursting with winter equipment, kept open even taking additional flights because Britain couldn't cope!

When asked how long the chaos would continue, the airport guy at Heathrow said, with stunning complacency, 'well, it depends how long it takes the airlines to get their planes back in the right places'. Yes, but they are only in the wrong place because of the disruption you caused.

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