Would a third runway solve Heathrow's snow problem?

HEATHROW airport officials are under fire after the weekend's snow caused massive disruption to flights. Britain was swept by blizzards on Saturday night that deposited up to six inches of snow across the country. But while Heathrow airport was forced to cancel more than 40 per cent of its 1,300 scheduled flights yesterday, Stansted, Birmingham, Luton and Gatwick airports were all operating near-normal services.

Heathrow in hibernation?
The Sun is disgusted that Heathrow pre-emptively cancelled flights. "Snow has once again taken Britain by surprise," The Sun notes. "Despite it being forecast a week ago. And despite it being, well, winter. At least we can't say Heathrow wasn't prepared. It took the precaution of cancelling hundreds of flights before a single flake fell." The paper, though, has a helpful suggestion for the bosses at BAA, Heathrow's parent company: "With another month of freezing conditions ahead, here's some advice for the world's third busiest airport: Why not shut entirely and hibernate?"

Time for a third runway?
Peter McKay in the Daily Mail asks why so many flights were cancelled before the snow even fell. "The company responsible, BAA, says Heathrow works to almost 100 per cent of its capacity. They claim congestion caused by bad weather forces the cancellation of flights. It isn’t safe to operate them, we’re told," noting that in November, fog caused cancellations.

What leads to this state of affairs? "Well, if ‘capacity’ is the culprit at Heathrow, as BAA suggests, why not increase it?" McKay asks. Because both the Government and Opposition now oppose it, despite the last Labour government championing it. "Would there be fewer ‘Heathrow Snow Chaos’ headlines if they increased capacity by building the third runway? It would be nice to think so," he concludes.

Heathrow is a special case
"The arrival of the winter's first serious snow across much of the country had the usual consequences," observes The Independent. "We should say, for fairness's sake, that the capital managed to keep the traffic and public transport moving. But still many Heathrow flights were pre-emptively cancelled, with others diverted elsewhere, inconveniencing thousands of travellers."

Before we start to demand the expansion of Heathrow, "it must be recognised that its geographical situation makes it prone to fog and snow and that there will be times when every airport will be defeated by adverse weather. There is certainly room for more improvement at Heathrow, but it is unreasonable to expect perfection, and another runway – as weather-dependent as the other two – would solve nothing." ·