Airiport Money Saver...don't clear the runway!

Friend expecting his girlfriend on this morning’s Air Canada flight. Guess what? Couldn’t land! Runway not cleared! Had to divert to Prince George and to be bussed back to Rupert. Assuming not able to land in Terrace due to weather. One of our travel agents told him that the airport will likely be fined/assessed costs by Air Canada.

Just how much would it cost the airport to run the plow over the runway this morning? The inconvenience for passengers is huge…a day lost spending at least 10 hours on a bus. How much did this fiasco cost Air Canada in additional fuel, crew, and who knows what else? Wondering if clearing has been done for Hawk this afternoon?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the airport get a new plow not long ago. Maybe the boss man didn’t want to get it dirty!

Perhaps they just decided to take the same approach City Hall does – “Snow? Ah, just leave it. It’ll melt.”

Clear and sunny in Terrace. Should be no problem landing on the plowed runway here.

I believe so. My daughter said her friend texted her from Digby a short while ago (flight from Vancouver).

[quote=“hitest”]

I believe so. My daughter said her friend texted her from Digby a short while ago (flight from Vancouver).[/quote]

Perhaps when the plane was set to arrive the weather deteriorated to the point of aborting any attempted landing, Terrace might have had the same weather problem as well, just a possible theory.

Well hopefully, the crack media team here in the city will investigate the situation and report back, nothing can result in an airline pulling out of an airport quicker than not actually being able to land a plane there.

A Jazz plane did land to take the out bound passengers to Vancouver this afternoon aparently… I guess it’s a different aircraft… I feel sorry for the folks that had to bus from PG

From: Vancouver Intl (YVR) To: Digby Island (YPR)

AC8278 8:05 8:02 10:03 12:52 Delayed Arrived at Gate

I question if Prince Rumour is at work again… morning flight shows a 4 hour delay into Rupert nothing about a diverson to PG

Maybe that plane had snow tires,(sorry I just couldn’t help myself)

[quote=“jamesbrown”]From: Vancouver Intl (YVR) To: Digby Island (YPR)

AC8278 8:05 8:02 10:03 12:52 Delayed Arrived at Gate

I question if Prince Rumour is at work again… morning flight shows a 4 hour delay into Rupert nothing about a diverson to PG[/quote]

No it appears to have been diverted

flightaware.com/live/flight/JZA2 … /CYVR/CYPR

morning Air Canada passengers finally go into downtown Rupert at 2 p.m., after having been diverted to Prince George to decide next move. They left George about noon and got to our airport about 1 pm. Runway in Rupert had not been cleared earlier - guess one man and his shovel takes longer than expected to clear an air strip. Plane made an attempt to land, but not safe to do so. Out-going passengers had to wait at airport even longer,as the visibility deteriorated during our “snow storm”. Feel sorry for those people as they were stuck over at the airport for 5 or more hours with nothing but chips and pop machines to choose from!

Good thing those New Year’s resolutions hadn’t kicked in yet.

does the airport staff go at the same time as the first flight passengers in the morning? if so that would explain why snow wasn’t cleared in time, or are they allready there?

Maybe mayor mustache came actually answer this question without it being in council

[quote=“Jabber63”]does the airport staff go at the same time as the first flight passengers in the morning? if so that would explain why snow wasn’t cleared in time, or are they allready there?

Maybe mayor mustache came actually answer this question without it being in council[/quote]

The staff are already over on Digby prior to the morning passenger arrival.

Following the airport operations from time to time i find it amusing how little people find out about a subject before they complain and spout off on a subject. Terrace Hawkair flight was diverted to Rupert yesterday and everyone had to get bused to Terrace because it couldnt land in Terrace and it happens that way far more often than you would think,Hawkair and Jazz. So where are all of the complainers now bashing the Terrace airport and its staff with their shovel.

You’re not likely to find complaints about Terrace issues in the “Prince Rupert Forum”.

The runway wasn’t the problem in Terrace. They have a plow, and it was working.

It was the lack of visibility. Unless you think that airport workers can do something about that, it’s not a valid comparison.

The thread here was about Prince Rupert not clearing the runway. I don’t know if it’s true or not, though.

Friend just got in from Vancouver on the Jazz flight, said that a Terrace flight again tonight diverted to Rupert

[quote=“MiG”]The runway wasn’t the problem in Terrace. They have a plow, and it was working.

It was the lack of visibility. Unless you think that airport workers can do something about that, it’s not a valid comparison.

The thread here was about Prince Rupert not clearing the runway. I don’t know if it’s true or not, though.[/quote]

I still think that the issue that day wasn’t perhaps the snowplow but the weather conditions at the time, that day saw a number of rather fierce snow storms blow into the region, I would imagine that the conditions at the time of the landing had more to do with the eventual diversion to PG, I think Terrace was probably suffering the same snow storm as we were at the time.

At any rate, we perhaps won’t know for sure until someone in what passes for our media looks into and perhaps offers up the correct version of the story,

Unless of course the Airport Manager happens to be a regular reader of the site, if so, this would provide a good opportunity to share the Airport’s side of the story.

If that’s the case, then yeah, file this one under “complaining about the weather.”

If they really didn’t plow the runway, then that’s something different.

When the captain announces that the run-way is not clear and there is a beautiful blue sky…one has to wonder what prevented the plane from landing!