Discover how Manchester Airport tackles snow and ice with a powerful fleet of vehicles
Manchester: Every day, thousands of travelers come and go from Manchester Airport. Even when the weather is nice, it’s a tricky operation to get everyone where they need to be.
But when the temperature drops, like it has this week, things get a bit more complicated. Snow and ice can be really dangerous for planes. You definitely don’t want to land on a slippery runway!
With 20 miles of runways, taxiways, and stands to clear, it’s no small task. Plus, they can’t just use grit like they do on roads because it can harm the aircraft.
Instead, they use a special de-icing fluid to keep the runways from freezing. The runway surface is also slightly grooved, which helps planes get better traction when it’s wet or icy.
Even though the de-icing fluid helps, heavy snow can still pile up. This week, they had to bring out over 30 snow-clearing vehicles to tackle the situation.
Just one inch of snow means clearing over 7,000 cubic meters of snow from the runways. That’s a lot of snow, and they need some serious machines to handle it!
That’s where the Combined Jet Sweepers come in. Manchester Airport has nine of these big yellow trucks, each worth over £100k. They’re equipped with 12-meter snow plows in front and powerful snow blowers in the back.
Alongside the CJSs, there are nine tractor-mounted plows and six snow brushes. They also have three de-icers for spreading the de-icing fluid and five gritters for roads and walkways, but not on the airfield.
To get the job done quickly and safely, the airport closes the runways while the fleet works its magic, helping passengers get on their way.
During winter, they have extra staff ready to help out, including a team that can be called in based on the weather forecast.
In the last week, Manchester Airport had to close its runways four times due to snow. Thanks to their impressive fleet, they managed to reopen quickly, keeping disruptions to a minimum.
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