Heathrow Airport - Snow Closure

Update statement – 25 March 2011

The Enquiry announced by BAA, and chaired by Professor David Begg, has announced its findings.

They can be seen by downloading the document here [ Report ] or via the BAA website (baa.com).

BAR UK, who were the first witnesses at the Enquiry, welcomes the findings and believe they set a very positive way forward. Please see our press statement for more details.

Snow That Heathrow Airport experienced heavier snow than normal on 18 December 2010 is not disputed.

Also not disputed is the need to have closure periods whilst runways are cleared.

What is disputed between BAR UK airlines and BAA/Heathrow Airport is the crippling aftermath that ensued.

Between the 18th and the evening of 22 December, only one of the two runways was cleared for operation. Additionally, there were long delays in the clearances of taxiways and aircraft parking stands. Consequently, the airport became clogged up with aircraft that either could not be moved or operated because of all the various restrictions in place.

For passengers, the whole experience was an horrendous catalogue of air travel gone wrong, especially for those thousands who were in transit for connecting flights.

For airlines, it created havoc with hundreds of aircraft stuck out of position, in various parts of Europe and elsewhere. Also grounded were the passengers and crews since those aircraft could not be used to maintain the rest of the schedule elsewhere causing serious knock-on delays and cancellations across the global airline networks.

The unacceptable delays in getting Heathrow back into normal order have created huge losses of revenues and great additional cost burdens for airlines as a result of BAA's less than optimal performance.

However, despite the open acknowledgement that matters should have far better, BAA has not shown any interest in sharing the burden of the revenue losses and extra costs for the airline community.

Direct approaches by BAR UK have been rebuffed, a stance which has not been accepted by the airline community.

BAR UK continues to request BAA to acknowledge and implement the following measures;

To better engage with airlines as customers
To better recognise the huge impacts suffered by airlines and their passengers
To voluntarily offer, without prejudice, rebated airport charges for an agreeable period to share the cost burden