EU and airports learning from snowy air travel disruptions

[News_Editor]

EU and airports learning from snowy air travel disruptions

2011-01-20 09:18:51 GMT+7 (ICT)

BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) -- Siim Kallas, European Commission Vice President in charge of transport, on Wednesday met with CEO's from major European airports to discuss how to prevent the problems that occurred at airports last month due to heavy snow fall, the European Union (EU) said.

The adverse weather forced major EU airports to close or partially close which significantly disrupted air traffic across Europe. Several thousand passengers had to spend the night at airports and 35,000 flights were canceled, which is more than the cancellations for the whole of 2009.

The Commission said it would bring forward specific measures to address some of the key issues in the Airports Package which will be published later this year.

"Volcanic ash is difficult for the aviation industry to predict, but we know that winter arrives every year and we should be ready for it," Vice President Kallas said.

Air travel last December was particularly disrupted as many of Europe's larger and busiest hubs partially closed during one of the busiest weekend of the year, the beginning of Christmas holidays.

Many flights were canceled, and thousands of passengers were stranded at hubs all over Europe. This caused major luggage handling problems, and concerns about de-icing product shortage also affected the operations at certain airports.

"The responsibility for devising and implementing contingency planning lies with the aviation industry. What we can do at European level is strengthen the regulatory framework - as is necessary - to help. In particular, we need to introduce minimum service and quality requirements at European airports for our passengers. Those requirements will form part of the legislative proposals in the Airport Package due later this year," Kallas added.

During the meeting, which was held in Brussels, airports gave their practical experience and views of what had happened and the factors and deficiencies involved. With heavy snowfall, airports were unable to to remove the snow quickly, and as Heathrow, one of the EU's major and busiest hubs, was closed during several days, it had a knock-on effect on other airports.

Airport officials also agreed that information provided to passengers was too slow to avoid the necessary waiting time at airports.

Furthermore, airport officials, along with the EU, concluded that contingency planning for snow at airports must be improved, which includes co-operation between all those involved in the air and on the ground.

In addition, the EU said that they had to ensure the proper functioning of the airline hubs. Given the knock on effects, airports overall must be integrated more strongly so they work as a network and not in isolation.

The first responsibility for contingency planning, however, lies with the aviation industry, the Commission said, adding that it can establish a stronger regulatory framework.

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