'Snow chaos was avoidable'

AIRLINES and airport authorities in Paris have been accused of failing passengers with a series of mistakes that left thousands stranded by snow in the run-up to Christmas.

Transport and ecology minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said both airport operator Aéroports de Paris (ADP) and the airlines were guilty of "operational failures".

ADP did not have enough de-icing capacity for planes and was too slow to tell airlines about the problems. In their turn, the airlines failed to let passengers know what was going on, which left 2,000 stranded and sleeping in the terminal buildings.

Ms Kosciusko-Morizet is imposing changes so that next winter would not see the same problems.

The inquiry found that ADP knew in early December about possible difficulties with de-icing, but failed to do anything about it. When it tried to get more stocks, its tankers were blocked on snow-hit roads.

Now ADP is to invest €60m to increase stocks of glycol de-icer and to create more de-icing bays. It will absorb the costs with no increase in fees.

Charles de Gaulle airport will hold 10 days of glycol stock, as against the present six. The de-icer will also be stored closer to the airports.

ADP did not sound the alarm until December 23, which forced the French civil aviation body to start to cancel flights, although passengers were already in the airports.

Airlines often did not find out what was going on until passengers had boarded their planes, which then had to return to the terminal. However, the report found many airlines failed to take responsibility for passengers.

They have been told to improve communication and to make more use of text messages to make direct contact.

However, Ms Kosciusko-Morizet said she was not in the "business of making scapegoats" and no sanctions would be imposed.

The transport ministry has also drawn up new measures for the rail and road authorities to avoid a repeat of the travel problems.

The SNCF has been told to improve the information and help it offers passengers when bad weather affects travel, using "every possible channel".

It should also do more to look after passengers, offering free food and drink.

On the roads, the ministry has agreed with préfectures that they should clear bus routes as a priority when snow starts to fall. There are plans for more priority bus lanes to be built along roads in the Paris suburbs to ensure public transport still works.

The transport ministry also wants to change the rules governing when heavy goods vehicles are banned from roads. A working group has been set up to look at ways of classifying priority vehicles that should still be allowed to travel in bad weather.

Other measures announced include a better alert system from Météo France to warn of "major meteorological risks". The system would incorporate radio, TV and the web.