BAA response to snow 'ineffective'

Airport operator BAA's response to the pre-Christmas snow was "initially ineffective" leading to "distress" to passengers, a report into the December 2010 travel chaos has said.

Confused and contradictory messages caused incorrect signals to go to airlines and passengers, said the BAA-commissioned report.

The potential impact of the weather forecast was not fully anticipated in the days before the worst of the snow on December 18, the report said.

This led to "a low state of preparedness ahead of the snow and insufficient stock of critical supplies for an event of this scale", the report said. Clearing the aircraft stands was slower than required and slower than rates achieved elsewhere.

This was because the condition of snow on stands became very difficult as a result of earlier aircraft de-icing and stand gritting. Airlines and BAA had not agreed priorities and protocols for dealing with and resourcing this situation. BAA did not have specialised equipment for under-aircraft stand clearance.

The report recommended that Heathrow adopt an improved winter resilience target that the airport should never close as a result of circumstances under its control, except for immediate safety or other emergency threats.

BAA said it accepted the report and was developing a £50 million resilience investment plan which it would recommend to airlines and the Civil Aviation Authority next month.

Led by BAA non-executive director Professor David Begg, the inquiry was set up by BAA on December 23 after the airport had started to return to normal following the heavy snow on December 18, which led to thousands of Christmas getaway passengers camping in the terminals as airlines cancelled hundreds of flights.

In the report, the inquiry team said that no single event or decision led to the disruption in the period December 18-23. It added that BAA's crisis management system was invoked on Friday December 17 to deal with congestion in Terminal 5.

The report went on: "The response to the snow on December 18 was initially not effective. There were failures in communication and co-ordination within BAA, and between BAA and airlines, which led to ineffective engagement between different parties, resulting in ineffective situational awareness and a delay in response and escalation."