As busy or complex as EGLL perchance
Lots of lessons to be learnt all round, including some Airline Operators, in what was very trying circumstances
Anotherthing...the problem I have watching this from overseas in a country that deals with this year after year is that Heathrow can't offer excuses because it is "busy and complex" because so are other airports round the world that deal with this.
What lessons need to be learned...when they are already in place again at other airports round the world with similar movements and equally complex ground movements?
Letting people off the hook with the statements you make should not be acceptable as EGLL can learn from NUMEROUS agencies round the world..but either choose not to..or think they are unique.
It is embarrassing being British in YYZ at the moment.....the "different snow", "unprecedented events", "complexities of LHR" lines all are met with the question..
What was the snow plan then to deal with such things?
An airport that important to the infrastructure closing down at one of the busiest times of year is appalling.
Imagine if we were as poorly prepared in ATC...we'd get lambasted. Nothing would get in and out of the airspace around England if you/we were as inflexible as the snow plan the BAA had in place.
Aviation is supposed to be a flexible industry and also all about handling the unexpected (why do we train for full radar failures when they supposedly never happen...why do the airlines simulate complete engine failures when they hardly ever happen???)
The plan put in place for an airport that deals with 65 million passengers annually get stalled within a couple of hours. That to me from a professional perspective is a disgrace. I don't care about CDG and AMS and FRA and the fiascos there....as a Brit I care about my so called flagship hub..
BTW the only thing I do agree with as has been mentioned before is that an airport that operates at 98% capacity all the time is always going to come unstuck when something screws up the operation. If any lessons are going to be learned then it has to be something to do with spare capacity or cutting the flow rate for bad weather.