JetBlue woes lead Eppley to devise plan
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Passengers held for hours onboard aircraft while severe weather causes one delay after another.
The situation wouldn't happen at Omaha's Eppley Airfield, according to plans discussed in the wake of JetBlue Airway's winter fiasco at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
The problem is unlikely to happen at a non-hub airport like Eppley, which is less congested and doesn't have multiple planes taking off at once, said Steve Coufal, director of operations at Eppley.
Still, he said Omaha Airport Authority officials have discussed contingency plans from time to time for situations such as severe storms that strand or divert flights.
If there were a mechanical problem, the authority has "air stairs" that could be rolled out to a plane so that passengers could leave a plane. The authority would arrange for shuttles to transport passengers to the terminal.
Airline managers at Eppley cooperate well with the authority and each other in sharing gates when needed and handling flights diverted from other cities, Coufal said.
"The key is good cooperation and communication. We have both with the airlines," he said.
