Calgary airport prepared for similar emergencies like Halifax
The Calgary Airport Authority says it is prepared in the event of an emergency such as the one involving an Air Canada Airbus A320 on Sunday in Halifax.
CEO Garth Anderson said the Calgary airport regularly practices how to handle aircraft emergencies and is fully equipped with vehicles to assist with getting evacuated passengers to safety. He added evacuees shouldn't have to wait very long on a runway after an incident.
Some passengers involved in the crash landing Sunday complained they were left standing in the cold on a runway for up to an hour after they evacuated.
Atkinson says it's worth noting that every emergency situation is different and that's why the Calgary airport does training exercises to prepare emergency responders.
"In an incident such as at Halifax, they're somewhat dispersed because they're trying to get away from that aircraft, and I think that's probably a good idea". . . . But I think the airport authority as far as I understand from the initial reports reacted quite quickly to round people up and get them on buses and get them back to the terminal.
