"Inquiry over litany of failure at Northern Ireland airport"

Title:

Friday, June 29, 2007

Inquiry over litany of failure at airport

By Clare Weir

United Kingdom - The Belfast Telegraph

An internal inquiry has been launched following a damning report on events that forced the closure of City of Derry Airport last month, including why the airport committee was not informed of serious safety problems.

But Derry City Council, the airport operator, said today that any process involving action against individuals will take place confidentially.

A litany of failures was exposed yesterday as Peter Hampson, of Airport Solutions Ltd unveiled the results of his independent inquiry into the closure.

And he backed the Civil Aviation Authority's decision to order the four-day shutdown.

In the aftermath of the debacle, it emerged that safety fears were first raised by the CAA in 2004, but that none of the 'non-compliances' were passed on to Derry City Council's airport committee until after the crunch CAA inspection in May.

As the council launched its internal probe following the report, deputy town clerk John Meehan said: "The public will be made aware of all actions taken, but where there are individuals involved there are procedures which must be followed and these can be of a confidential nature."

The shocking findings include:

• Safety issues identified by the CAA could and should have been rectified prior to the May 16 inspection - such as the deterioration of a windsock and paintmarkings, and tree growth
• Among safety fears were interference from passing trains, bird strikes, loose and exposed cables on the runway and obstacles including trees and houses
• Runway markings were not included on the airport's safety checklist and the airport at one stage was operating with a 2003 aerodrome manual after losing their computerised version
• It is likely that the Failure of the Safety Management System identified by the CAA had occurred over a period of time, culminating in the closure.

Airport committee member councillor Gerry MacLochlainn said: "It is the view of Derry City Council that councillors are not the appropriate people to run an airport through a committee."

He added that action now needs to be taken against those responsible for failures.

Former Airport Committee chairman, William Hay said that it is now time to look at changing the operation of the airport.

"The airport is a hugely important piece of infrastructure for the North West," he said.

"But this must now surely speed up the prospect of new governance for the airport."