Denver International Airport on Wednesday released a report by outside consultants criticizing the airport’s capability for dealing with snowstorms that struck last December.
“The snow events of December 2006 at DIA cost both the airlines and the airport millions of dollars and tarnished the reputation of an otherwise world-class airport,” said the report by consultants Critical Path Inc. and Landrum & Brown.
It took eight months to prepare and cost the airport $252,000.
The report said DIA must develop a new snow-removal program that will keep the airport open during most snowstorms and “minimize the closure times resulting from ground blizzards,” when unusually high winds reduce visibility to near-zero and force a shutdown.
During the storm that hit the airport on Dec. 20 and 21, DIA was closed for 45 hours.
High winds created blizzard conditions for part of the storm, but most observers say DIA would not have been shut so long if it had been better prepared.
The report said DIA’s “inability to remove snow from the air carrier ramps began a cascade of events that resulted in an extended airport closure.”
In the future, the airport plans to use huge industrial snow melters as a key way of keeping aircraft ramps between the concourses from getting clogged with snow.
The report said DIA did not have enough personnel to fight the twin storms that swept in just before and just after Christmas last year.
It said the airport did not have enough heated garages to house snow-removal equipment, nor did it have enough fueling stations to accommodate the airport’s snow-removal fleet.
The airport’s storage area for sand and liquid deicing chemicals did not have enough maneuvering room for snow-removal equipment, according to the report.
At one point during the December storms, more than one-third of DIA’s snow-removal equipment was “down” for repairs, awaiting parts, the report said.
Because DIA relies heavily on equipment companies to supply parts via overnight shipping, critical parts were not available, it said. “The airport closure added to the problem of receiving parts, as air freight is often used to expedite overnight shipment.”
The consultants’ recommendations call for DIA to acquire multifunction snow-removal machines that provide plowing, sweeping and snow-blowing functions in a single piece of equipment.
The new machines will be used for fast, coordinated snow removal on high-priority runways and taxiways, according to DIA’s new snow plan.
Currently, the airport relies on separate machines to plow, sweep and blow snow. DIA is not expected to have a full complement of multifunction machines until the 2008-09 snow season, airport officials say.
This winter, they will rely primarily on conventional equipment to clear runways and taxiways.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
