Letter: Snow-fly zone

I would like to clarify two issues mentioned in your editorial ("Workforce key to beating winter weather", 9 March). Our evidence to MSPs on Edinburgh Airport's winter resilience was clear. Heavy snowfall for long periods, as we saw in late 2010, will always close our airport, particularly in that we only have one runway.

However, we can do better in opening more quickly once the snow has stopped. While we will not be able to have three runways to ease the impact of snow fall like the airports in Helsinki and Oslo, we can learn lessons.

The 1.5 million investment we have made in extra snow-clearing kit will not enable us to remain open but rather clear snow far more quickly and significantly reduce the time that we are closed.

You are right to mention safety and it is at the core of our decision making, including the decision as to whether the runway, apron and taxiways are safe for planes.

Secondly, during the worst of the snowfall, the whole airport staff - including me, our cleaning staff and our firefighters - was out clearing snow.

The team at the airport takes its responsibilities in operating Scotland's largest airport very seriously and I'm proud of the way they met the exceptional conditions we faced.

I'm confident, given the lessons we have learned this winter and the action we have taken on the back of that, that Edinburgh Airport will be able to cope with the higher levels of snowfall we have seen and be operational far more quickly after snowfall.

Kevin Brown

Edinburgh Airport

Edinburgh