Winter Services

Winter services are provided at Dresden Airport during the winter months. They ensure that flight operations run smoothly in any kind of weather conditions. About 140 trained employees are employed to provide winter services and they not only keep aircraft free of snow and ice, but also the apron area, the runway and the taxiways. 

  • In service every shift: 1 duty manager, 1 traffic manager, 2 group leaders, 14 equipment operators
  • Area needing to be cleared: 543,100 square metres (as large as 76 football pitches)
  • Aircraft parking spaces account for 245,000 square metres of this figure, the runway 171,000 square metres, taxiways 90,600 square metres and the perimeter road 35,500 square metres

    • “Push, sweep, blow” is the sequence practised for clearing
    • Mechanical clearing equipment takes precedence for environmental reasons
    • If icing takes place, fire-dried quartz sand is used for gritting
    • In extreme conditions, the runway is de-iced using 50 percent calcium magnesium acetate 

    • Probes measure important runway data: the temperature in and above the concrete, wind speed, precipitation, air humidity
    • The probes set off an alarm if there is a risk of ice
    • The use of chemical agents is minimised because of the early warning system

    The declared aim of the winter services is to de-ice aircraft and areas with biologically degradable materials instead of chemicals. If it is necessary to use a glycol/water mixture, the de-icing work takes place at separate aircraft parking stands so that is it easy to collect and dispose of any excess de-icing agents in a professional manner. 

    • Helps with de-icing and prevents any new formation of ice (anti-icing)
    • Special vehicles spray wings and the tail unit with a glycol/water mixture that is 60 – 80 degrees hot and fully degradable biologically
    • The captain decides whether an aircraft has to be de-iced