Airport Business - 11

OPERATIONS
equipment is a must as well. This year, his
department upped its pavement deicing
abilities with additional sprayers to
pretreat runways with potassium acetate.
The timing with this is critical, as he
explains, they don't want to apply it and
have the chemical wash off before it can
bond to the pavement.
"We're basica l ly standing by
with those deicers watching surface
temperature readings from the runways
that our managers see live," he says.
"When the temperature is just right, we
can apply that chemical. What we do is
scientific, because we have to factor in
winds, temperatures, etc."

only the field maintenance department,
but the air traffic control tower, our
tenants. Everybody has to be on the same
page to make this work."
After listening and planning, winter
operations' staff must be flexible.
"Things change," he says. "This is a
dynamic environment. Sometimes we
have to scratch the first plan and go to
Plan B."

Rising to a Super
Challenge

to a lot of extra hours working overtime
to make sure planes flew, but employee
morale remained high during the Super
Bowl travel peak hours.
Rudolph says they didn't quite know
what they were getting into, and planned
for the worst, but everything proved to
work for the best and provide an amazing
experience for both the staff and the
entire airport community.
"It's really a team," he emphasizes
about winter operations. "Nobody here
says 'I did this or that.'"
Rudolph says when the weather
gets tough, he remembers something a
colleague told him once: "'I look up in
the terminal windows and think of that
little boy or girl sitting there watching
us move snow so they can get to their
destination - somewhere warm.' It's cool
when your employees recognize that." 

As Super Bowl LII host in 2018,
Minneapolis had its hands full with a
big snow event the same week, right
before thousands of football fans headed
Lessons Along the Way
through MSP.
Rudolph came to MSP in 1999, and says
"People were tired," says Rudolph.
that in his 20 years, he's learned, first "I was just so impressed that our team
and foremost, to listen to his employees
management and on-the-field staff
and encourages all airport managers to
came together to represent the state of
do the same.
Minnesota and MSP."
"You need to listen to your bootsA snowy January and February led up
on-the-ground, so to speak," Rudolph
explains. "Take their input, watch their
behaviors, because once they're called
out, they don't go home until a snow
event is over."
R. Brian Davis, vice president of ground
operations for Sun Country Airlines says that
Then, he offers as advice, that the
it's rare for them to cancel a flight due to snow.
efforts around pre-planning cannot be
"We have an industry-leading 99.8 percent
underestimated.
completion factor," Davis says. "However,
"Pre-planning is huge with all of our
safety is our number one priority in our
stakeholders," Rudolph adds. "We need
decisions."
to have everyone on the same page, not
He says that aircraft deicing procedures are

SUN COUNTRY THRIVES IN WINTER

very well defined, and the airline follows
strict FAA guidelines, at all times. They own
their own deicing trucks but use a third-party
ground support provider for labor. While
Davis explains Sun Country doesn't have a nocancellation policy, its four deicing trucks and
weather monitoring help make decisions and
can deice four aircraft in an hour.
Davis explains there is an additional cost
for deicing to maintain the company's flight

completion rate, but it's well worth the
investment.
"Especially being based in Minnesota," he adds.
"Our operation is uniquely poised to operate
throughout the toughest of winter weather."
Rising to meet Minnesota's harsh winter
weather hasn't always been easy, but Davis
says his team's greatest accomplishment came
last year during the polar vortex, which hit this
Midwest airport.
"Because of our preparedness in cold-weather
situations we were able to move forward and
not cancel any flights on this day," he notes.
"We have hired employees and management
that are well-versed in cold-weather
operations and believe we have one of the very
best teams in the industry."

APRIL 2020 \ AVIATIONPROS.COM / 11

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Airport Business

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