BOAC, you said it! Its all about off blox time!
......and, of course, it achieves that 'Holy Grail' - departure on schedule,
We have a smallish international airline, with one LHR flight a day. Our flight was one that was de-iced at the gate, but didnt make it out in time. For some reason they couldnt get anyone to re-de-ice before they were out of duty time. End result, one 744 out for a day. We are not big enough to 'ABSORB' that kind of problem. The ripple was felt through our modest network.
Remote de-iceing is the way to go. Then again, its not a problem isolated to LHR, dont start me on snow at FUK this week.
