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| Heathrow Airport under a blanket of snow |
But most flights were cancelled before a single flake of snow fell. When the snow did fall as predicted, it was hardly sufficient to bring the country’s main airport to a standstill. There was not a lot of snow and there was no fog, so exactly why were so many flights cancelled?
Heathrow Airport is Britain’s largest airport with over 65 million passengers passing through the airport annually. The forecast of snow however, was enough for the Airport Authority to cancel almost 40% of flights to and from Heathrow Airport.
After the chaos caused with the previous winter snowfall when the airport authorities were completely ill equipped to clear the snow and ice and which consequently led to mass cancellations and the airport’s closure, we would have thought they would be better equipped this season. After all, Gatwick Airport following the first major snowfall had the common sense to invest in equipment to help keep their runway clear and operational. In fact, Gatwick Airport authorities handled the situation far more efficiently; it appears, that with their ‘customers’ in mind, they managed to keep their operation far more professionally operational.
The previous winter, after the Gatwick team had shown how it could be done with a little investment and forethought, BAA at Heathrow Airport proudly displayed its latest snow and ice clearing equipment. Well where exactly was the equipment last weekend? One can only surmise that they did not acquire sufficient equipment or operationally they could not use it. Possibly the forecast came too late, hardly we had ample warning on every weather and news bulletin. In fact, maybe too much of a warning, maybe the sheer thought of snow instilled panic.
You see, it is a no win situation for the travellers, we have to just assume that we are being offered the honest truth, that all is being done to keep us moving. That our safety is paramount and put before any other consideration such as profit, for example. The ‘get out of jail free card’ is often pulled out in these situations, ‘Health and Safety’ and who can argue with that. All flights cancelled tomorrow, before it snows; well I must say something does not quite sound right here.
Are the airport authorities actually correct? What would have happened if the weather had inflicted a severe snow and frost and paralysed the country’s infrastructure? The misery and chaos would have been such that we would have been asking why the airport authorities had not been pre-emptive and cancelled the flights when they knew this inclement weather was coming.
Rumours, and I stress these are rumours. But word in the local pubs and on the corner is that airlines actually seize on this opportunity. You see if the aeroplane is not full and they cancel a flight that fills up the remaining flights for quite some time. But I think that must be pub talk.
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