Winter Service
The airport’s commercial responsibilities include remaining open during scheduled hours of operation from 6 am ato 11 pm every day. This also means it is responsible for clearing the snow and de-icing.
Clear priority for the runway
Being able to offer a spraying and clearing width of 40 meters, the winter service team needs no more than ten minutes to completely clear the runway from snow and ice. The runway has clear priority, when it comes to snow removal, followed by the taxiways and the apron. The Operation Airside Duty Manager (ADM) takes regular test drives on the runway and checks, whether it is necessary to clear the surface. In addition, the airport has an early warning system for black ice, which gives information via multiple probes about freezing point, dew point and air- as well as ground temperature. A close coordination with air traffic control and the ADM is absolutely essential before clearing any airside areas.
Vehicle fleet used for winter services
At present the snow clearing fleet consists of 9 snow sweepers, 1 high-performance milling machine, 1 Hand snow blower and 1 unimog (a mulit-purpose-vehicle) for the mechanical clearance of the surfaces. In addition, snow blowers are used to spread the snow masses or to load them on trucks and take them to areas at the airport ground, where the snow can thaw. If necessary, the teams are working round the clock. The airport owns snow ploughs, snow-blowing machines, snow cutters and liquid runway de-icers.
A motivated and well-coordinated team
The winter services team consists of staff from various departments and is on alert from the beginning of November until the end of March. The winter services operations follow precise regulations, which have developed from the experience gained in the past and which are constantly optimized. It is decisive to be able to rely on a perfectly trained and well-coordinated team.
De-icing of operational surfaces
The airport takes care of the mechanical clearing of snow with the aid of ploughs and snow-blowers, also using chemical de-icers to maintain operational surfaces and aircraft. Urea is used, a chemical de-icing fluid which is 99% bio-degradable.
There is a black-ice warning system which constantly checks the ground and air temperatures by means of highly sensitive sensors. The most exact temperature measurements are taken in the take-off and landing areas of the runway. This information makes it possible to use the ground de-icing chemicals in an extremely environmentally friendly way.
