One of the Radio 4 news programmes spoke to a manager of the airport at Anchorage Alaska to find out how they cope with the ‘major snow events’ which they experience, on average, about once every 5/7 days.
With lots of expensive equipment (stored in warm sheds), well-trained teams, & mind-wateringly expensive quantities of stuff – he spoke of getting through $800,000 worth of product in a very short space of time during an ice storm.
So far, so (sort of) predictable. He said two things which were new to me however.
De-icing the planes is the responsibility of the airlines, not the airport authority – unmovable planes stuck on the stands are said to be a large part of the problem at Heathrow.
Although he declined to offer any advice to Heathrow – a totally different situation – he did say that with only two runways he thought that keeping the airport open would be almost impossible. Anchorage has three.
I suppose it’s the same principle as making sure that you always have a clean pair of knickers to wear – one on, one off, & one in the wash.
