Airport operations are affected by severe winter weather conditions, causing flights to be delayed or cancelled. Ice on runways and aircraft surfaces presents severe difficulties and snow is also problematic on runways and aircraft stands, reducing visibility. Clearing a runway takes 30-45 minutes on average -and as the average busy airport tends to operate 35 take-offs and landings per hour, snow clearance is inevitably disruptive. Poor weather is in itself beyond the control of the aviation sector (for example, fog cannot be dispersed by machinery). Industry stakeholders can, however, mitigate the effects of heavy snow and ice so that operational disruption is minimised.
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