Heathrow snow chaos enquiry prompts £50m investment
Monday, 24 Mar, 2011
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Airport operator BAA will invest £50m into Heathrow to make sure there is no repeat of the snow chaos that ground the airport to a halt last Christmas.
The operator announced the move today to coincide with the publishing of a report it commissioned into the bad weather debacle last December was saw 4000 flights cancelled.
The report, the Winter Resilience Enquiry, which was chaired by independent travel guru David Begg, calls for 14 key changes looking at better crisis management and creating a snow plan which sets out the tasks of BAA, the airlines, the regulator and air traffic control.
The report says the impact of inclement weather was “not fully anticipated”, airlines and BAA had no agreed plan in place for bad weather, the airport lacked the necessary equipment for snow, there was a failure of communication between the airport and the airlines, passengers were not kept informed properly and many were “left in distress”.
It estimates that some 9,500 people slept at Heathrow on December 18, when the bad weather really began.
BAA has vowed to act on all the recommendations and spend the £50m on better training, procedures and equipment.
BAA chief executive Colin Matthews 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."
Meanwhile a spokesperson for Virgin Atlantic said: “We are pleased at the pace of the inquiry and are not surprised by the heavy criticism levelled at BAA for failing to keep Heathrow open during that period of snowfall.
“As the world’s busiest airport and a vital gateway to the UK, the airline industry cannot allow this level of disruption to its customers to happen again.
“It is now critical that a process is established for properly analysing, structuring and prioritising the report’s main recommendations and then implementing rapidly.
“However, the delivery of the report should not disguise the need for airports to place the customer at the heart of their business and deliver real value for money. Airlines rightly feel this responsibility but we too often shoulder the majority of the costs when failures outside of our control occur.
“The forthcoming Airport Regulation Bill gives the industry the opportunity to improve the current, inadequate, regulatory regime and ensure airports take more responsibility for providing a consistent high-level service."
by Dinah Hatch
Dinah
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