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Here’s How Teesside Airport’s Beating The Heat To Keep People Flying
Posted in: News
Published on: 19th July 2022
Posted in: News
Published on: 19th July 2022
As record-breaking temperatures hit the UK today (19 July), one team of dedicated Teesside Airport staff were working hard to make sure local people could jet off without any problems.
While passengers would usually be using the airport to fly out for some summer sun, they escaped the heat on the hottest day of the year. An extreme heat amber warning was in place as thermometers rose to 39C in Teesside – six degrees hotter than Palma, Majorca, where two outbound planes were destined today.
TUI, the UK’s biggest holiday firm, and Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, both operate flights from Teesside to the popular holiday destination, but these could have been jeopardised without the forward planning of the airport’s operations team.
Tarmac, which makes up the runway, can begin to soften and lose its structural integrity at around 30C and therefore it was vital the team, led by Operations Director Andy Laundon, was proactive in keeping it under 28C.
He instructed the airport’s on-site fire department to use four of its appliances, reserving two for emergencies, to periodically spray the tarmac on the runway three times a day to keep it stable – meaning the packed flights took off without a hitch.
With reports of runways “melting” at other UK airports, it’s this level of planning right across the site that means Teesside Airport is the second most punctual in the UK, according to Civil Aviation Authority figures.
It doesn’t end there, as holidaymakers have been keeping comfortable inside the terminal building too, with extra coolers and fans running since last Friday to cool the building ahead of the heatwave.
Andy Laundon said: “Usually in the UK, the Operations team are all about planning for winter movements and keeping the runway open during the frost and the snow, however the freak heatwave this year has made us look at things slightly differently.
“We’ve had an operational plan in place since mid-last week which involves cooling the terminal down for passengers and we’ve started to douse areas of the runway to avoid any struggle with integrity and the runway suffering.
“Other airports have started to do the same, but we’ve been planning this since last week and we avoided any delays or disruption by getting the runway cool before it became an issue – the key is forward planning.”
