WINNIPEG – All the recent snow in Winnipeg has the crews at the Richardson International Airport busy.
Up to 15 centimetres of snow fell since Wednesday; if you’re having trouble clearing your driveway, imagine the work keeping thousands of feet of runway safe for aircraft.
A team of four massive snow-clearing machines will be working nonstop for the next few day.
“The crews will work through their breaks, their lunch trying to keep the airport moving and going,” said Richard Griffith, of the Winnipeg Airports Authority.
Airplanes may be big but even the smallest snowdrifts can cause brakes to freeze and lock up.
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“The runway is about 200 feet wide and we will just keep the centre open for the planes, then after the snow we will start working to get it to the full width,” said Nick Matheson, an airfield maintenance specialist with the Winnipeg Airports Authority.
The airport has snow cleaning staff on 24 hours a day until April.
The equipment is developed specifically to handle Manitoba’s winter weather. The airport teamed up with a Portage la Prairie company to develop the machines. They are now sold across North America.
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