Stansted Airport and Snow

Perhaps we’re getting better at coping with the snow lately in the UK or perhaps it was just a case of being forewarned about the weather in advance, but it seems that Stansted Airport didn’t have too many problems due to last week’s snow.

During last year’s snow Stansted didn’t do too badly either and was closed for only 4 hours, which was a lot better than Heathrow or Gatwick. They were on standby to take diverted aircraft last weekend too.

Prior to that weekend the Observer wrote that Stansted Airport was gearing up for the snow expected. No one was in any doubt that there was going to be severe weather, but many people were probably wondering how the airport would cope.

Apparently BAA had doubled the size of their fleet of tractors and also had de-icing equipment and a large snow blower at the ready to ensure the runway stayed operational.

All this preparation seemed to pay off as everything was operating normally last Monday despite about 17cm of snow over the preceding weekend. After the blizzard began on that Saturday just 12 flights were diverted away in order for the runway to be cleared late that night and on the Sunday the runway was open all day.

According to the Observer, there were a few departures cancelled (16 from Ryan-air) on the Sunday but everything was back to normal by last Monday. Not bad considering that the Saturday’s snowfall was apparently about 50% more than the last big one in 2010.

You can read the articles in the Observer here:

• Stansted Airport mobilizes for 4in of snow on Saturday
• Stansted Airport fully operational
• We hope your travel plans weren’t affected by the snow!