Monday, February 09, 2009

Keystone Kops Airport

I was in New York last week for a few days. Well, 48 hours.

Anyway, when I arrived back on Friday morning it was dark, but I could see snow all around. I was surprised it wasn't cleared better from around the planes, but it didn't look like a whole lot and I didn't think much of it. Then late Friday I heard on RTE that there were long delays earlier in the day due to the bad weather.

At first I thought I must have been hearing a report from the day before because it had snowed on Thursday, but not on Friday. But, no. The report was about delays on Friday. I checked RTE's web site and found this:
Dozens of flights at Dublin Airport were either cancelled or delayed after icy conditions left aircrafts unable to refuel.
Look, I know it snowed a little on Thursday and it was chilly on Friday, but if temperatures of around freezing (0°C / 32°F) were that big an issue for airplanes then the airport in Minneapolis would be closed for 5 months of the year.

Michael O'Leary described Dublin Airport Authority as Keystone Kops and it's hard to disagree with that. 3 inches of snow causing two days of delays is a joke.