Even though the significant amount of snow made some delays inevitable, airport officials said they were too slow to respond and too modest with the equipment allocation.
Colin Matthews, BAA's chief executive, admitted the airport was too slow in clearing the snow and that it underestimated the amount of time needed to free-up snowed-in jets, the Guardian reported. An airline source said his company was ready to fly, but the airport wasn't.
"Ideally, BAA would have had more resources for this. We have had our planes de-iced and ready to go whenever asked, but you cannot do anything if the runways and taxiways are iced," the source said.