Kallas criticises airport chaos

Transport commissioner gets tough on response to snow

Siim Kallas, the European commissioner for transport, has heavily criticised airports for the current travel disruption during heavy snow.

Kallas described airports today as the “weak link” in the transport infrastructure chain and urged them to improve their response to wintry weather.

He said he would meet airport officials within days to discuss how they could operate more effectively.

He said: “In recent days, I have become increasingly concerned about the problems relating to the infrastructure available to airlines – airports and ground handling – during this severe period of snow.

“It seems at this stage that this is a weak link in a chain which, under pressure, is contributing to severe disruption.”

Kallas said that the European Commission could bring in legislation on minimum service requirements for airports if it decided that this would improve the situation.

“I intend to convene a meeting with airports representatives in the coming days to ask for further explanations and to take a hard look at what is necessary to make sure they would be able to operate more effectively in the similar situations in the future,” he said.

“Airports must get serious about planning for this kind of severe weather conditions. We have seen in recent years that snow in western Europe is not such an exceptional circumstance. Better preparedness, in line with what is done in northern Europe is not an optional extra, it must be planned for and with the necessary investment, particularly on the side of the airports.”

“Hundreds of flights across Europe have been cancelled due to snow and ice in recent days with passengers forced to endure long waits to reach their Christmas holiday destinations.”

A spokesman for ACI Europe, the association of airport operators, said airports were doing all they could to help stranded passengers.  He said that decisions to close airports or cancel flights were all taken in the interests of safety.

Olivier Jankovec, the association’s director-general, said: “For quite a while, we have been calling for airports to be given appropriate authority to control how their infrastructure is being used by others.

“The forthcoming revision of EU legislation on ground-handling is the opportunity to allow airports to set minimum operational standards for ground-handlers in relation to service quality and safety.”