b'WINTER OPERATIONSYVR 31all areas that contributed to the breakdown in service and identifyof passenger and aircraft demand exceeding processing capacity solutions to prevent similar failures from occurring in the future.due to winter weather conditions at YVR, states the official Report The airport enlisted the assistance of Arup, a global professionaland Action Plan. services firm with specific aviation experience, to lead an after- In 2023, the YVR promptly invested more than $40 million in winter action review with assistance from Airports Council International.weather equipment, deicing fluid storage, real-time weather monitoring I was impressed by the airports proactiveness from our earliestequipment, staff additions and increased training. Moreover, airport conversations, recalls Kerri Knox, an associate advisor with Arupleaders generated 130 action steps in four key areas:and lead investigator for the YVR project. When the firm was hiredEnhancing winter and irregular operations plansThis in February 2023, airport personnel already had completed multipleincluded purchasing additional snow removal and weather reviews internally and with their airline partners to analyze themonitoring equipment, as well as implementing new gate weather incident and develop next steps for improvement. protocols designed to ensure that arriving aircraft can deplane Knox has a personal background in mission-critical operations,passengers within 30 minutes of taxiing from the runway.and her masters degree studies focused on emergency andEnhancing cross-team collaborationYVR established a disaster management in business environments. The airportdedicated team with members across the Airport Authority and brought us on board for a wider lens to make sure they werentairport partners to provide more information and data sharing, missing anything, she explains.collaboration and decision-making between key members of Consulting All Parties the airport ecosystem.Vrooman notes that it was critical to review all aspects of operationsAccelerating investments in technology and dataThis to determine where breakdowns occurred, and to involve all entitiesincludes a digital apron management tool to better prioritize operating at the airport. Naturally, that was a huge group, includingaircraft handling services, and the improved ability to track snow removal and maintenance workers, directors of the aircraftdelayed baggage. YVR partnered with SureWx to install its rescue and firefighting unit, and airport communications personnel,holdover time calculating technology in the infield between the as well as outside entities such as commercial airline partners,north and south runways. This allows subscribed airlines to cargo carriers, weather monitoring service personnel, governmentunderstand the impact weather is having on departure times.agencies, contracted maintenance partners and officials at regional airports that serve YVR and were impacted by the winter disruption. The airport also conducted a public engagement program to hear directly from affected passengers and the general public. That effort was undertaken by Kirk & Co., a communications consultantSafe Runway with offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary. The final YVR Report and Action Plan: FRICTION MEASURING | WEATHER INFORMATIONestablished a timeline of environmental conditions, decisions,Conditionsactivities, communication and actions; identified specific impacts; reviewed and identified gaps between regulations, policies, plans, procedures and directives applicable to the actual event and YVRs response;analyzed the performance and service level of staff; and chronicled what worked, what didnt, and the variousreasons why.Overall, the 2022 December holiday season was tumultuous for airports across North America. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, commercial airlines canceled 5.4% of their scheduledRunway Safe - the exclusive North American distributor for SARSYS-ASFT domestic flights (compared to 1.1% the previous month). To Vroomans knowledge, YVR is the only Canadian airport that completed an after-action review following the challenging month. Multi-Discipline ResponseNot surprisingly, the after-action review didnt find a singular root cause for the storm-induced operational challenges; it cited the confluence of several different complex factors. The heart of the event and the severe disruption that followed was essentially a caseinfo@runwaysafe.com | www.runwaysafe.comAirportImprovement.comMarch | April 2024'