Why do U.S. airports reduce takeoff/landing capacity in bad weather more than in Europe?

Question

Airports in the U.S. reduce airplane takeoff/landing capacity in bad weather significantly more than those in Western Europe, causing longer weather related delays. What is behind the different approaches? In which way (if at all) are European airports better technologically equipped?

Answers should be factual, and not be opinions or guesses. Thanks.

Answer 1

Takeoff and landing capacity for all US Airports is controlled by the FAA System Command Center in Virginia. Because these capacity controls are activated by a government agency, there is not much that individual operators or airports can do to change them. Because many US airlines are hub operations, they encounter additional delays when departing a capacity limited hub, only to arrive at the destination and then be added to the list of delayed traffic trying to get back into the same limited capacity hub. Also, the FAA ATCSCC controls a single area of airspace much larger than several European countries combined. There is simply no comparison between the daily number of flights handled by the US Air Traffic Control System, versus that of any other country in the world.

Answer 2

While weather may be bad over here in Europe, we don't get the same kind of storms that are prevalent in some places in the US.
I lived right next to Frankfurt airport for 4 years, while stationed at Rhein Main AB. We shared the runway.
Lots of rain, but downdrafts and wind shear aren't near as much of a problem. this may be due to the weather being cooler over here, in general. No tornadoes or extreme thundershowers.
We do have more than our fair share of fog though, and they do close for that.
Even with the CAT III ILS equipment and PAR Precision Approach RADAR we have here at Ramstein, they still close for fog.

Answer 3

Not sure where you get your information from. Your statement that US airports reduce capacity more than European airports during inclement weather is not backed up with any factual information to validate your statement. You asked for factual information but only offered an opinion yourself.

The impact of inclement weather on aircraft operations depends upon the weather and the design of the airport.

Airport design includes many factors. Prevailing winds vs runway alignment is a major factor. If prevailing winds are East-West but runways are aligned North-South, crosswind conditions will have a signifiant impact on sequencing much of the time. The spacing of parallel runways will have a significant impact as well during crosswind ops -- runways that are farther apart permit closer spacing on simultaneous approaches and departures than runways that are close together.

Prevailing weather conditions are another major factor. Areas prone to thunderstorms are more likely to see greater impact on air operations than areas where rain tends to be more gentle.

Some of the perceptions are based on commonly held but incorrect assumptions. For example, we call Chicago "The Windy City" but Boston is much windier than Chi-Town if you check the weather records. London is sometimes called "Foggy London Towne" but again, Boston is foggier.

I've worked air ops in several places in the US as well as in Europe. Having dealt with European Flow Control in Bussels more times than I could ever count, I don't think there's a lot of difference in weather-related delays between the US and Europe as a whole. As a VERY frequent traveler, I've been delayed in European airports (CDG, LHR & MAN) more than I've been delayed in US airports with the exception of ORD.

Answer 4

What he said. The limit for visibility, the absolute minimum, even if the systems can get you on the runway safely, you still need to be able to see far enough to taxi to the ramp.

Answer 5

there is alot more wind sher in US