Flying to the Rescue

The recent snow seemed to catch everyone out. But, thanks to a little forward planning, Pirtek Paisley helped Servisair keep the planes at Glasgow Airport on the move.

Permanent Callout
With 15,000 employees handling 1.1 million aircraft movements, 81 million passengers and 900,000 tonnes of cargo worldwide, Servisair is the UK’s leading airport service group. The company runs five Tempest de-icing units at Glasgow, all maintained by Pirtek. So as soon as the snow was forecast, Pirtek Paisley stationed one of its four Mobile Service Vehicles on permanent callout to help safeguard the airport’s 400+ weekly winter flights.

Pirtek get through
“Pirtek Paisley were excellent. They supplied us with all sorts of ancillary equipment during the bad weather as well as providing normal hydraulic hoses and connectors needed for maintenance work. We would normally expect Pirtek to make four visits to us each week, but during the worst of the snow they made 12 to keep us going,” concludes Servisair’s station manager Tom Richie. “Where they really came into their own was when we couldn’t get de-icing fluid to the airport. This meant that we had to transfer the existing stock between the Tempest units, all of which have different hose couplings. Thankfully, Pirtek had the correct fittings, allowing us to keep all five vehicles mobile. We were sometimes operating in temperatures of -25 degrees Centigrade, freezing fog as well as deep snow. Pirtek Paisley provided a lifeline for us when other suppliers couldn’t get through.”