What would you have done differently? From the comfort of their armchair, people always seem to rush to their keyboard to criticise, but seldom offer alternatives
When I looked at the forecast yesterday the wind was going to be down the runway.
The Ryanair from East Midlands was the earlier Dublin. I guess the passengers will be arriving by coach?
LS Alicante departing now.
Surely success in snow clearing is measured by when it stops snowing, not when it starts? As I type this, an aircraft has just departed 14.
Sorry but that nonsense. There's 2.2km of runway to clear but there also needs to be an acceptable braking action too, which often takes longer, even after the snow is cleared, especially if the snow is compacted into the grooves on the concrete during brushing. Then there's the taxiways, a very long apron and all walkways used by passengers to clear and ensure they're not slippy. All airport vehicles also need to be able to move around safely so routes up to the fuel farm for example, and catering area, all need to be cleared. Until it actually stops snowing, little progress can be made. There's a lot of people working really hard to get the airport opened safely yet they get nothing but criticism, even here. We can't compare LBA with other airports really as 9 times out of 10, LBA has a lot more snow due to its height . There's at least 4" of it on my driveway and I'm lower than the airport.
Runway work maybe postponed with the weather as it is.
Wind forecasted to be from S/SW gusting 45kt.
Not disputing any of that. When I worked there (over a decade ago now) the ramp was the same size. One team would be working on the runway another on the ramp and taxiways.
Looks like the EMA-LBA is diverting to Dublin. Maybe braking action isnt good enough for a landing?
If the snow gets compacted into the grooves on the runway, it's a devil of a job to get it out until it melts or they use lots of very expensive de-icer, which they do, but when it turns to rain, as it has, they may as well pour the de-icer down the drain as it just washes off before it does it's job. The delay in getting the required braking action seems to be very much to do with the type of runway surface we have rather than the failure of the snow clearing team. A tarmac runway wouldn't have this problem.
In the past they have agreed to keep ATC open to allow operations to get back to normal on some occasions . Perhaps they will today?
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