Going back a few years Reed Aviation were the only company that offered de-icing of aircraft at Luton. Easyjet got priority together with Monarch, as they were handled by them anyway. Next came the airlines that used Servisair and the exec jets were the last in the pecking order.
In this particular year Reeds often only had one serviceable rig, which had already caused problems in the previous weeks and then the snow came followed by the ice. The runway took the normal half day to be cleared but then the one and only rig could only de-ice around 2 or 3 aircraft an hour. It wasn’t long before delays of hours were taking place as the queue of aircraft got longer and longer. Easyjet blamed Reeds yet I raised this very issue at a consultative meeting weeks before with airport management but was told that de-icing was the responsibility of the airlines.
Anyway after that Easyjet bought the de-icing of aircraft in- house thus freeing up capacity for other airport users.