Potential Deicing Fluid shortage

[Going Boeing]

Clariant to halt de-icer production, warns of traffic impact

Published on ASDNews: Dec 30, 2010

GENEVA - Swiss chemicals group Clariant warned Thursday of European air traffic disruptions as it is forced to halt production of vital de-icers during a harsh winter season owing to a shortage of raw materials.

"Due to the adverse weather conditions, the extremely high demand for de-icers for aircrafts has led to a shortage in raw material," said the chemicals group.

"The Swiss special chemicals company Clariant is therefore expecting a halt in production from 1 to 4 January," it added.

"Depending on weather conditions and stock levels of the airports, this could have adverse consequences for European flight traffic," it added.

Clariant has been producing de-icers for about 100 European airports since October 2010.

Amid this season's bitterly cold and snowy winter, the production of the chemicals used to de-ice aircraft has shot up 50 percent by December compared to a year ago, said the group.

Officials at Aeroports de Paris had asked airlines to cut their flights by 50 percent on Christmas eve as it was having trouble getting hold of enough de-icers.

Flights from Brussels were also grounded for three days last week due to a shortage of de-icers.

(c) 2010 AFP


Privately owned airports wouldn't have money tied up in large stockpiles of deicing fluid so this could have a serious impact on airline operations.

[twochai]

Privately owned airports wouldn't have money tied up in large stockpiles of deicing fluid so this could have a serious impact on airline operations.

I would hazard a guess that privately operated airports will very quickly have run the numbers and discovered that the cost of carrying deicing fluid and snow moving equipment in inventory is minor, compared with the instant loss of revenue during a shutdown of operations.

If I remember correctly, I think LHR alone generates GBP 1 million of operating margin in its retail operations every working day, saying nothing of aircraft landing fees, space rentals, passenger terminal fees and car parking revenue! This is not rocket science!

[411A]

I would hazard a guess that privately operated airports will very quickly have run the numbers and discovered that the cost of carrying deicing fluid and snow moving equipment in inventory is minor, compared with the instant loss of revenue during a shutdown of operations.

You mean, like LHR, recently?
Ohhh, say it isn't so.

[barit1]

Is there a commodity market in deicing fluid futures?

[VFD]

Clariant has been producing de-icers for about 100 European airports since October 2010.

So am I missing something here or did the 2009 and previous years supplier quit producing de-icers. Surely there are other suppliers.

VFD

[Denti]

Only around three suppliers in all of europe and clariant is by far the biggest, leading the market by a wide margin. Not very pretty though that they didn't get a big enough supply of raw materials.

[LGS6753]

Perhaps Clariant had been taken in by the "climate change" brigade predicting ever-warming winters...

[Mechta]

It would appear there is some good money to be made by someone who can come up with an on-site system for separating the de-icing fluid from run-off water. You might not want to spray the recycled stuff back onto aircraft, but it could be ok for runways and taxiways. There should also be a return by reducing the amount of polluted water to be disposed of.