Swissport, Menzies, ASIG, WFS, Dnata and soon to be joined by Aviator. Airline services are also present but only undertake cleaning and De-icing at the moment.
Way to many over here besides EI and FR handlers we have two possibly 3 main handlers to flight it out for 30+ airlines. Clearly this plays a big role in staffing as MAN and as pointed out cannot be limited.
then I think you'll find this refers only to the Airport Company's airfield clearing equipment and therefore does not include any of the handling agents de-icing rigs. Are you comparing apples with pears?
I believe it is just part of the daa (operator) and not handling. Even if it wasn't it is clear MAN wouldn't have as many as there is still a gap of 80 to make up.
And Ringwayman and Skippy put it very well, airlines want lower prices to reduce their costs so will drive a hard bargain. Passengers generally want the lowest prices too, so how do you get out of that one?
The answer seems to be that you don't and passengers will have to accept that in order to enjoy their low cost trips, don't expect the system to work properly when unusual situations are encountered. But nowadays people will mouth off about any little thing if they think it will get a like on Faceache or create a Twitterstorm or even worse there is some compensation likely.
I accept the point in general however you don't class Emirates as a low cost carrier and I don;t believe they would be to bothered about paying handling costs once they get the service they provide accross their network.
yet the same curcumstances of undercutting is occurring in Europe and US, yet they cope?
Good point
I'll leave it to the experts to work out if the TAFs were accurate in light of the METARs but to this untrained eye, it looks like the weather was far worse than the forecast.
A factor however you should can never be 100% with forecasts which should be factored into planning.
Last year at Munich, a very wintery snowy airport, I was delayed one hour due to no staff available to load bags. Then had to queue another 30 minutes for the de-icing pod- then it snowed more & the airport was closed. Finaly got away almost 3 hours late. Even the super efficient snow ready German airports fair not much better than MAN at times. Give the guys a break - they do their best with what they have, IMHO no worse than many other places.
Certain airlines are making record profits- but still want to pay peanuts, they are as much to blame as the customers looking for basement fares.
Previous to that, in the past I've also been stuck at Frankfurt airport for 36 hours hours when It snowed for a couple of hours, sending the entire airport T*ts up for days.
No where is going to be 100% weather proof however comparing Munich to Manchester is not realistic.
Reference the quote by Jamie about DUB having 120 pieces of equipment for snow clearing: After they got heavily criticised in 2010/2011 during the bad weather they started a scheme. Farmers would be paid by the airport to lend their tractors to the airport in winter months. The tractors are stored in heated sheds so it's a win win for farmers who wouldn't need their equipment in winter. The airport will also pay those willing to be on call to assist snow clearing when needed with their own tractors which are stored on the airfield. It's a win win. Do MAN not do something similar? Worth looking at if they don't.
Even aside form that the daa invested over €8 million in equipment. Manchester invested £2 million (€1.5 million ish) and taking Edinburgh which handles half of what MAN does they invested £1.8 million (€1.3 million). Under investment is the real problem here even though it may not be required often an airport must function. If you got a prolonged period of snow are the excuses still valid?
Anyways here's a few not at Manchester....
Remember the debacle at LGW last summer with lack of handling in the early hours - national headlines, airport company put the blame squarely on the handling agent (Swissport)
Gatwick chaos: Airline axes baggage handler Swissport after extended delays - Home News - UK - The Independent
or this one at Stansted, again involving Swissport
Quote:
Last night a spokesman for Swissport said: ‘Swissport staff were under extreme pressure dealing with an unprecedented level of flights and whilst we accept we should have unloaded the passengers sooner we simply had no one available to unload when contacted by the captain. Swissport regret any delay to passengers and to Ryanair.’
Ryanair passengers call police during ELEVEN hour delay as they demand 'food, water and the right to leave the aircraft' at Stansted airport | Daily Mail Online
or in Singapore
More than a thousand Jetstar passengers face delays, cancellations and luggage headache - Singapore Transport News & Top Stories - The Straits Times
The real point to this is will all these airports learn from mistakes? In most cases yet but will MAN learn, past experience says not?
Management need to think outside the box if they are un willing to invest in a facility. Then we have them banging out about how great MAN can be for a Hub in the North. A hub that can only operate when its not to cold outside!
It didn't really snow till around 6.30/6.45 and was light.
I know there is restrictions attached to the runway operation but could they not of cleared one runway and closed the other during the snow fall?