Er, professionalism, caution, airmanship, experience etc. Qualities often lacking in other Industries and other Continents.

So what do they do at Southend then, take a chance?

No stands at Ltn due to very slow de-icing with aircraft queuing to park

OMG. Runway inspections aren’t carried out continuously so in conditions such as these a professional crew would factor into their take off performance calculation the possiblity of a degradation in runway state since the last inspection. That would probably entail selecting contaminated runway state, icing conditions etc in the EFB (take off performance computer). I’d do the same for SEN in similar conditions and if the EFB result was “can’t be done” I’d head back to the crew room for a coffee!

Easyjet do remote de-icing on the south stands 2 at a time to speed things up while other airlines use stand de-icing. Seems that 12 aircraft are waiting on stand for remote de-icing so not as quick as it could be with a 3 hour wait time

On average what is the de-icing time for say a A320 ?

Don't the first 7 words quoted answer the question? (stopping distances etc?) Also probably carrying extra fuel for contingencies due to weather so higher take off weights.

For “drive through” deicing/anticing the target is one aircraft every 6 minutes, brakes on to brakes off.

Nightstop...Thanks

If it's just frost then 10 minutes. Snow is a different matter - how much, wet and slushy or dry powder. Worst case scenario being wet snow then the temperature falls below freezing. Frozen slushy snow takes a lot of shifting. Then there is the problem of holdover times. If it's only frost then the de-ice is good for 5 hours. If it's still snowing then it's only good for 15 minutes, so there is a juggling act to perform. Get de-iced then ATC advise you're no.9 for departure then you've wasted your time and need another de-ice. Big airports that get more snow than Luton have de-icing gantries near the runway to avoid this problem.

Good info cj....cheers

It seemed to be taking forever today and closer to 20 minutes if not longer to de-ice each aircraft rather than 6.

https://i.imgur.com/WhbsxdY.jpg

The south stands are used as remote de-icer stands.

https://i.imgur.com/eisJBTj.jpg

The queue to park using the taxiway bravo extension. It was strange that some easyjet aircraft were queue jumping via taxiway hotel while others just sat there for an hour or more.
https://i.imgur.com/dyIrBzH.jpg

Even at 13:15 there was not a spare stand
https://i.imgur.com/AX8pUBY.jpg

One can conclude that the handling agents lack enough de-icer rigs.

Lots of cancellations and massive delays now due to the airlines issues with de-icing or should I say a lack of de-icing. This on a day when the airport stayed open in the snow.

It was taking up to 40 minutes (plus) to de-ice each aircraft at the remote de-icing station today. Only one truck per aircraft making it ridiculously long to get out. We first called for push at 9.15 and eventually got it at 1140. Then it took two hours waiting on the 'new' B for a spot on the de-icing station before we managed to depart. Police were called to Vueling aircraft as passengers became rowdy. Surely a day that will live long in Luton Airport Management's minds. Or at least hopefully.

nb. LTNman the a/c parked on new Bravo were actually waiting to de-ice having routed parking stands - C1 - runway 26 - hold B5. thus all arrivals had to vacate at H, meaning many of the Wizzairs had to backtrack after landing in the slush and causing yet more delays.

EZY at LGW today had 21 aircraft deiced during a 3 hour period at the dual drive through Sierra stands. That’s one every 8.5 minutes, well done everyone (especially DM) who worked so hard to achieve this result, and without gantries!

No doubt as this chaos has cost the airport and the airlines money it might focus a few minds. I seem to remember years ago that Easyjet introduced remote de-icing on the south stands and the FBO’s started doing their own, as they were always at the back of the queue.

Remote de-icing can’t start now until 3 of the south stands have been vacated by departing aircraft not that it seemed to make any difference. As for the FBO’s they were not affected.

It might concentrate a few minds, but I doubt it very much.

Nightstop - sounds like LTN/EZY may need a trip round the m25 to LGW to see how things should be done at a proper airport. Second time in almost as many weeks that a tiny amount of snow has rendered most of the fleet immobile.

The minds will say it's just a day or two a year anyway.

The main resident airlines will probably agree if faced with increased charges for proper de-icing facilities.

A couple of things... LTN was closed this morning for runway clearance... I think someone earlier said it remained open and the success of deicing EZY aircraft in LGW is because EZY have a big involvement in how the aircraft are managed and several trials later they have a set up that seems to provide a good solution for all parties involved. Sadly at the airport on the hill, there is not enough space or professional know how to make it work properly during busy periods..

LTN was a joke from morning through to the afternoon I’m sorry to say. Eventually the tower had to take control over order of deicing and pushback because the handlers/deicing teams and airport were in a complete mess.

Quote of the day from the LLA at one if the morning snow disruption conference calls - it’s a whiteout out there but we will not be closing the runway and we are confident there will be no diversions or cancellations today.