European airports prepare for upcoming heavy snow
December 17th, 2011 - 9:31 am ICT by IANSBrussels, Dec 17 (IANS) Ahead of upcoming days of heavy snow, the European airports have made several preparations this time to prevent any chaotic situation and inconvenience to air-passengers, said a senior official.
According to Siim Kallas, vice-president of the European Commission and the Commissioner for Transport, the Commission convened a number of meetings during last 12 months to avoid chaos in airports in Europe as witnessed during last winter due to heavy snow, Xinhua reported.
“I am pleased to say that their response has been positive. Serious deficiencies and weak links have been identified and are being addressed,” Kallas said.
Last Christmas, over 35,000 flights across Europe Union (EU) countries were cancelled — more than in the whole of 2009 while tens of thousands of passengers were stranded.
Noting the efforts made by the airports as well, Kallas pledged to keep monitoring the situation closely and reiterated that contingency planning should be a normal business practice in winter.
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Tags: 12 months, air passengers, airports in europe, brussels, business practice, chaos, chaotic situation, contingency planning, deficiencies, eu countries, europe union, european airports, european commission, heavy snow, inconvenience, last christmas, last winter, tens of thousands, vice president, xinhua