Operations Returning To Normal After Weekend Closure

A move by nine airlines to suspend service at Britain's Bristol International Airport got a quick reponse from airport management.

As Aero-News reported Sunday, a temporary section of runway 9/27 was said to be extremely slippery when wet. The report prompted the carriers to divert or cancel 385 flights, affecting 25,000 passengers over a three-day period starting Friday.

Over the next two nights, crews machined additional grooves into the temporary pavement section, and the runway was reopened Monday morning.

"The engineering work undertaken overnight has proved successful in increasing the drainage of water from the 300-meter section of temporary surface in place on the part of the runway being resurfaced," the airport said in a prepared statement. "Airlines will be progressively returning to normal operations over the next 24 hours."

Flights are said to be back to normal... but airport management is recommending travellers check with their airlines ahead of time, until its certain everyone's satisfied with the improvements at Bristol, located about 105 miles west of London.

FMI: www.bristolairport.co.uk/