Snowfall hits European airports (10/11/12 December 2017)

[jan_olieslagers]

"Minimale dienstverlening", anyone?

[Passenger]

Repeat: snow means chaos at every airport worldwide, and not only at Brussels. Same for the press reports. Same for the comments on social media by people who's flights were delayed or cancelled.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transpo ... 15196.html

http://www.nhnieuws.nl/nieuws/216622/Oo ... -op-vlucht

https://nos.nl/artikel/2207116-ook-chao ... hrapt.html

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/gesellschaft ... 34259.html

[Acid-drop]

Ah if it happens everywhere then its ok
People, enjoy your 2nd night sleeping like a dog at the airport.

[DeltaWiskey]

Belgium is in Northern Europe after all.

Belgium is not Northern Europe, "Northern Europe" consists of the Scandinavian and Baltic countries. They deal with snow much more often and don't have to close airports.
If you are in a climate where it is not unusual to encounter snowy conditions, the airport should be equipped to handle it.

I don't think the past couple of days were that "exceptional", snow is something we encounter in Belgium almost every winter. I think it is rather exceptional to have a winter where we don't see any snow (showers) at all.

I also think it is time for the regulatory bodies to implement some rules regarding snow equipment for the size of the airport (similar to firefighting regulations, eg based on the size of aircraft and the number of movements?).

If we have to count on the goodwill of the Brussels Airport Company to make investments in snowfighting equipment, we can wait forever as it makes little financial sense to invest millions of euro's and only use it a couple of hours/days a year. (They made an operational profit of around 200 million euro's in each of the past 3 years, they can afford it if they want to).

[sn26567]

I am at AMS right now. Deicing is done while the plane is still at the gate, before boarding! This morning at BRU my plane had to queue for 15 minutes at a deicing station.

Just an example of the differences....

[FLYAIR10]

What was the bottleneck yesterday at BRU ? The de-icing capacity? The runwaycleaning time? Maybe a combination of both?

I tend to believe also the airlines could have done more to help their passengers.
e.g.Was the cancellation of that many flights by SN really necessary? Why did they not try to operate at least
some european evening flights with a night-stop abroad? At least those planes would have been in position for this mornings incoming flights to BRU? Why did SN not 'bus' some passengers to LGG(assuming some planes had diverted overthere?)
Or was this considered too costly and operationally not feasible at short notice? Of course easy to say after the facts ,but nevertheless I wonder whether it has received sufficient thought by SN.

Anyway, I think improvements by all parties involved need to be made to minimize the burden for the passengers.
One thing is clear . the BRU airport has to invest in their 'snow & ice'-fighting' capabilities. What is the cost of one de-icoing truck which can be depreciated over maybe 5-6 years or longer as compared to their yearly profit and the bad image they are creating for themselves with passengers?

[shockcooling]

I am at AMS right now. Deicing is done while the plane is still at the gate, before boarding! This morning at BRU my plane had to queue for 15 minutes at a deicing station.

Just an example of the differences....

Speaking of differences.
At Brussels airport (Brussels Airlines) planes have been de-iced at the gate before boarding for several years already...
When can you apply this procedure? When you have the capacity. When you're 100% sure no precipitation is forecasted, no frost, etc.
You probably boarded several planes in Brussels early morning,let for the first flights, not realising what measures were taken to let you leave on time
You don't have to believe your eyes only!

[Stij]

Repeat: snow means chaos at every airport worldwide, and not only at Brussels. Same for the press reports. Same for the comments on social media by people who's flights were delayed or cancelled.

Not in the Nordic countries...

Cheers,

Stij

[Passenger]

https://www.finavia.fi/en/newsroom/2017 ... runway-use
Updated December 12, 2017 at 19.20
Difficult weather conditions are continueing. Due to a strong side wind only one runway is in use instead of three runways. Delays are expected also during the evening. Airlines will do their best to return to the normal flight schedule.

https://www.finavia.fi/en/airports/hels ... ts?tab=dep

Agree, they didn't close the airport - it's just an average delay of 3-4 hours.

[L_Y]

Agree, they didn't close the airport - it's just an average delay of 3-4 hours.

And Finns had problems not because of snow but because of strong side winds.

[Passenger]

Agree, they didn't close the airport - it's just an average delay of 3-4 hours.

And Finns had problems not because of snow but because of strong side winds.

Actually it was a snow storm (much heavier then here, probably), with strong side winds as additional factor:

...The Finnish airport operator Finavia has warned travellers to be prepared for delays on Tuesday afternoon as a major snowstorm hits Finland. Around 10-15 centimetres of snow is expected in southern Finland by Tuesday evening, before the precipitation turns to rain... Strong crosswinds are expected at the airport from around 2pm, reducing runway capacity and necessitating delays to some flights, according to a Finavia press release... "If that happens, there will be delays to air traffic, because it will occur at the busiest time for aviation transport," said Annika Kåla of Finavia... The snow caused some difficulties on the roads of southwest Finland on Tuesday morning, with three accidents recorded in quick succession...."

https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/hels ... ys/9973145

[Stij]

And Finns had problems not because of snow but because of strong side winds.

Welcome to Luchtzak L_Y!

Stij

[sn26567]

And Finns had problems not because of snow but because of strong side winds.

Welcome to Aviation24.be, L_Y !

Meanwhile, bad weather continues to affect Finnair's traffic:

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/finna ... ming-days/

[luchtzak]

And now Swissport has a staff shortage: https://www.aviation24.be/ground-handlin ... two-hours/

[luchtzak]

And now Swissport has a staff shortage: https://www.aviation24.be/ground-handlin ... two-hours/

A Swissport spokesman denied the staff shortage, but explained that due to the fact that too many aircraft landed at the same time there were not enough teams to handle the aircraft.

[SR20]

I love this Facebook commercial from Brussels Airport !
I think many people already experienced the "Frozen adventure" last monday