Its not that they cant be bothered to operate 2 runways....they are only allowed to operate 2 RWYs at certain times due to a legally binding contract....
Mr Keghead, that is rubbish. As I posted earlier in this thread, they CAN use 05R/23L in emergencies if necessary as was witnessed a week or so ago when a FlyBE Dash 8 landed on 05L and proceeded to do an emergency evacuation. After an inspection 05R was pressed into service.
In previous years 05R/23L has not been used over the holiday period due to reduced demand and to appease the locals. I think this is also happening this year, so I guess they didn't bother to clear it on Saturday pm when the snow started and in any case the new runway is not used on Sunday am. Of course on Sunday there were frequent snow showers and it took all their time to keep the one runway open, albeit with several closures. And once you have left the other runway untreated with this amount of snow and sub zero temperatures, only rising temperatures will clear it without a massive effort.
I suspect those staff who are left at MAN in Ops are genereally not experienced in this extreme (for Manchester) weather and this my have contributed to the situation. Couple this with the fact that jobs seem to be reviewed every few months and you can imagine that the enthusiam to get stuck could be less than it was a few years ago where people volunteered to come in and help out in this type of situation. In addition there may be an attitude on high that the extra expense of vehicles, materials and staff to shift snow is not worth it for the very limited times it happens at MAN - and I'm sure that this applies at many other airports where the beancounters hold sway.
However, having lived in the area for many years, this is one of the worst snowfalls in recent years, so I suspect that even if there had been more resources, there would still have been problems. After 6 days there is still 15-20 cm of snow in the area and it's freezing again tonight.
Have a Happy Christmas
Suzeman