Planes take off from Heathrow ahead of fresh snow threat

Planes are now taking off from snowbound Heathrow after Europe’s busiest airport opened both its runways to allow two-thirds of flights to operate.

But as things slowly improve attention is turning to the costs of the disruption and who to blame.

One man who is not flavour of the moment is the boss who runs the airport.

BAA Chief Executive Colin Matthews said :
“ Well, It’s unacceptable that passengers can’t get where they want to be, of course it is. And we need to fix that. We’ve had a crisis here- I’m responsible, so I’ve decided not to take my bonus. But I want us and the media to be focussed on getting passengers where they want to be.”

The travel chaos has been felt across Europe triggering calls for legislation to force airports to provide a minimum level of infrastructure support during severe weather.

Meanwhile the father of one family said his experience at Heathrow had been atrocious.

“People sleeping on the floor, people getting drunk, we had people shouting and screaming, people wanting to have fights. It’s like a refugee camp.”

Backroom staff are now working round the clock to reschedule flights and get stranded passengers on their way – all before the next snow filled weather front arrives.

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