No more deicing fluid at Brussels Airport

[teddybAIR]

... in case of emergency

Do you consider bad stock management a case of emergency? Will you be prepared to declare a similar state of emergency when Ikea runs out of Poängs due to unexpected snowfall in Sweden? Where do we draw the line between the simple mechanics of our economy and a situation where certain - commercial by the way - companies are exempted from rules that are applicable to all the others?

[tolipanebas]

If Flightcare did spread the news to put pressure on the goverment I give them a big applause as it seems to work.

That's definitely one way to look at it!

The other way is to wonder why other handlers weren't faced with the same shortage, under indentical circumstances?

Finally, it's interesting to note that the emphasis of all public communication did not apprear to be aimed at requesting help to get emergency supplies in from elsewhere, but rather showed a fairly submissive attitude towards the entire situation, all while extensively pointing to the extreme WX conditions (thus diverting possible blame) and making it sound as if it was to be a general problem for the airport, whereas it now appears this may not have been entirely true, suggesting the aim of the panic reaction may have been to get the government to just close the airport and thus avoid the embarrassement of having one handler seen as unable to de-ice today, while the other would still be working as usual....

[regi]

If Flightcare did spread the news to put pressure on the goverment I give them a big applause as it seems to work.

one handler seen as unable to de-ice today, while the other would still be working as usual....

No wonder with all that coke flying around

[Conti764]

yes very true.
flightcare management is a disaster though so its not such a surprise they screw most things up

What I have been wondering about... We hear more and more stories about SN and LH setting up their own seperate handler at Brussels Airport. If this will happen, might it be possible they take over Flightcare at the airport?

Aviapartner has been around for ages now, and Flightcare is only recent on the airport, replacing BGS (Brussels Ground Services) which in turn took over the former Sabena handling (this also explanes why you still see some old Sabena blue equipment in service with Flightcare, sometimes even with a faded S-logo on it).

And whenever I hear a handler being criticized, it is mostly Flightcare.

[Boeing767copilot]

Flightcare: business as usual at BRU from 4 PM today:

Release in Dutch
Flightcare in staat om vliegtuigen te ontijzelen vanaf 16u,
ondanks het Europees tekort aan ontijzelingsproduct

December 2010 werd getroffen door uitzonderlijke sneeuwval. In tegenstelling tot andere Europese luchthavens bleef Zaventem steeds open. Uitzonderlijke hoeveelheden ontijzelingsproduct waren noodzakelijk. Flightcare heeft de meeste vliegtuigen van zijn klanten kunnen ontijzelen, al was het hier en daar met een klein beetje vertraging. Vanaf 16u bent Flightcare opnieuw in staat een 100% ontijzelingsdienst te kunnen aanbieden.
De uitzonderlijke klimatologische condities over heel Europa hadden zware gevolgen voor het luchtverkeer. Europa en België kenden de ergste sneeuwval sinds 1945. De koude en de sneeuw hebben dus de nood aan ontijzeling sterk doen toenemen. Voor Flightcare, leidend grondafhandelaar op Zaventem, komt de veiligheid en het comfort van de reizigers op de allereerste plaats. Daarom heeft Flightcare alles in het werk gesteld om het hoofd te bieden aan deze uitzonderlijke omstandigheden. In tegenstelling tot andere luchthavens, kon Zaventem het hele weekend open blijven.
Op de 562 vluchten waarvoor Flightcare instond van vrijdag 17 december tot maandag 20 december moesten er 512 ontijzeld worden, dit zijn er evenveel als gedurende een normale decembermaand. De vleugels van de vliegtuigen waren vaak bedekt met een dikke laag ijs, met daarbovenop nog eens eenzelfde laag verse sneeuw, 220.000 liter ontijzelingsproduct werden uitgesproeid over deze 512 vliegtuigen, wat 6 keer meer is dan normaal. Vorige zaterdag werden 12 long carriers omgeleid van Londen naar Brussel. Voor elk van deze vliegtuigen was 7.000 liter ontijzelingsproduct nodig, terwijl 700 liter normaal voldoende is. Dit stelde 3.000 passagiers in staat Brussel in alle veiligheid te verlaten.
De sneeuw en de koude hebben ook gevolgen gehad voor de toevoer van ontijzelingsproduct. Dit wordt inderdaad door vrachtwagens geleverd, en een groot aantal vrachtwagens kon niet rijden omwille van het opgelegde rijverbod in Frankrijk en in Wallonië de voorbije dagen.
Toch heeft Flightcare alles in het werk gesteld om de ongemakken voor de luchtvaartmaatschappijen en hun passagiers tot een minimum te beperken. Vanaf 16u, vandaag dinsdag 21 december kan Flightcare opnieuw een 100% service leveren aan zijn klanten.
***

[teddybAIR]

I hope this isn't a press release

Vanaf 16u bent Flightcare opnieuw in staat een 100% ontijzelingsdienst te kunnen aanbieden.

Regardless of that small error the release does illustrate the exceptional nature of the recent weather conditions.

[tolipanebas]

Vorige zaterdag werden 12 long haul carriers omgeleid van Londen naar Brussel. Voor elk van deze vliegtuigen was 7.000 liter ontijzelingsproduct nodig, terwijl 700 liter normaal voldoende is. Dit stelde 3.000 passagiers in staat Brussel in alle veiligheid te verlaten.

That's all very noble of them, but is it really intelligent to spend fluid for up to 120 'normal' flights on a few diverted widebodies?

The consequence of it is that BRU came to within minutes of a complete standstill for almost 2 days and SN (as well as the other home based carriers) would have lost several millions because of it, only a few hours after those 3,000 stranded passengers had left, never to return here again anyway...

I'd say that is a clear example of getting your priorities completely wrong and it's definitely not the way to deal with your most important customer(s) and passengers! Flightcare shouldn't be de-icing occasional diversions as if there's no tomorrow as late as 10AM, unless they are 100% sure to be able to fully cope with all the needs of their contracted clients later that evening!

[teddybAIR]

Are you suggesting they refuse to de-ice diverted flights in order to guarantee the home carriers flights? Now there you have a solid ground for damage claims! "Sorry, we have the juice, but you're not getting any!"

[Acid-drop]

BRU is the 3rd world. That's the only conclusion.
They must prepare better for next time. Period.

[tolipanebas]

Are you suggesting they refuse to de-ice diverted flights in order to guarantee the home carriers flights? Now there you have a solid ground for damage claims! "Sorry, we have the juice, but you're not getting any!"

Actually YES.

Let me tell you a story about what we regularly face elsewhere when we're waiting for de-icing, not in AFI, not in the ex-USSR, but here in the EU....

At many of the smaller French airports for instance (let's say MRS), although there are several ground handlers, there's only 1 de-icing company due to the fact that the need for de-icing is relatively few.

Now, I don't know if you know a bit how de-icing sequences are normally built up?
The sequence is a function of the scheduled departure time and any slot which you may have, so as to minimize delay for all... at least, that's how a fair system goes in case there are several de-icers.

However, at MRS for instance, there's only one de-icer, and its an AF affiliate, so it has happened to me more than once already that suddenly, although we had a slot which required us to be number one for de-icing, an AF shuttle to ORY or a KL flight to AMS is taken first because their initial slot got cancelled/improved and AF obviously wants to minimize the delay on their network, even if it means SN misses its slot and gets delayed another few hours because of this!

Is that fair? Maybe not, but that's how it is done if you have self-handling capabilities.
And if you're a customer to such a self-handler and don't like it, you're always free to take your business elsewhere (in case there's a choice) or set up your own handling (in case there isn't), right? Otherwise you just shut up and grumble...

For some odd reason in Belgium we have a bad habit of wanting to be TOO fair, to the point of even cutting our own throat, like was almost done here...

The thing is, there is no OBLIGATION for flightcare to provide de-icing to any diverted planes really; they freely chose to do so nevertheless and risked the normal operations of their long term customers for it.
It's the bottom line to remember when SN needs to renew the contract with them (or hopefully not): you just don't have partner in them, so better to do it yourself really.

[teddybAIR]

I guess the difference is that flightcare is not affeliated to any airline, correct?

[tolipanebas]

I guess the difference is that flightcare is not affeliated to any airline, correct?

Personally, I don't know of many butchers would sell their last T-bone at 4 o'clock to a first time customer, knowing Mrs Robinson from next door is always showing up around 5 after having walked her dog to buy such a T-bone for him too all while buying her salami and speciality cheese for the evening as well as her soup and hot meal for tomorrow as well????

An entrepreneurial mindset would dictate any butcher to pretend there isn't any T-bone left for that first time customer... those who won't, won't remain in business for long, I can tell you that.

[Homo Aeroportus]

It spells S.L.A.

Service Level Agreement.

We buy from you the service of de/anti-icing our planes. You are to do this at a pace of xx planes per hour. Failing this service level is subject to a penalty amounting to ...

And no, saying that difficult road conditions is unexpected during is NOT acceptable in the frame of this agreement.

So, either the penalty was not high enough to deter, or simply is not stated in the SLA, and in this case SN shares the responsibility of the mess, or it is and then FC is in trouble.

My 2 cents.

H.A.

[tolipanebas]

It spells S.L.A.

Service Level Agreement.

We buy from you the service of de/anti-icing our planes. You are to do this at a pace of xx planes per hour. Failing this service level is subject to a penalty amounting to ...

And no, saying that difficult road conditions is unexpected during is NOT acceptable in the frame of this agreement.

So, either the penalty was not high enough to deter, or simply is not stated in the SLA, and in this case SN shares the responsibility of the mess, or it is and then FC is in trouble.

My 2 cents.

H.A.

Given the rumours FC tried to make the Belgian government warm for the idea of closing the airport and declaring force majeur, it seems they know all too wel they'd goofed up here and tried to sneek from under their responsabilities.

Anyway, the SLA between SN and FC must be a joke: nobody knows the details but their service levels are nowhere near those you may expect as a large client and nothing seems to improve despite all the crew reports made... Possibly it still has to do with the fact then-DAT was allowed to restart only on condition it used ex-Sabena affiliates where possible (to save as much employment as possible).
Let's just hope whatever term was set on it soon comes to an end; we're more than 9 years later now...

[teddybAIR]

Anyway, the SLA between SN and FC must be a joke

By extension, it seems that anyones SLA with Flightcare is a joke! Either that or we simply have no clue about the penalties FC has to pay its customers

[cnc]

Is Flightcare the same company who employed the arrested luggage handlers for cocain smuggling?
If so, a big blame to the managment: Instead of preparing its activities for bad weather and screening + controlling their personnel they were ... euh...playing Tetris?

yes

What I have been wondering about... We hear more and more stories about SN and LH setting up their own seperate handler at Brussels Airport. If this will happen, might it be possible they take over Flightcare at the airport?

if SN and LH start their own handling services it will be from scratch, FCC will not sell flightcare belgium.
i really hope SN will start with it

Aviapartner has been around for ages now, and Flightcare is only recent on the airport, replacing BGS (Brussels Ground Services) which in turn took over the former Sabena handling (this also explanes why you still see some old Sabena blue equipment in service with Flightcare, sometimes even with a faded S-logo on it).

And whenever I hear a handler being criticized, it is mostly Flightcare.

flightcare is still mostly sabena ground handling, just a new name and some new people in management just like aviapartner is still very much belgavia.

[regi]

Is Flightcare the same company who employed the arrested luggage handlers for cocain smuggling?
If so, a big blame to the managment: Instead of preparing its activities for bad weather and screening + controlling their personnel they were ... euh...playing Tetris?

yes

YES means that the managment was playing TETRIS ? Can somebody teach them Patience , maybe managment will perform better.

[benlin910]

That's all very nice, but when it snows tomorrow, they are still in need of anti-icing....

i also think so.

[benlin910]

Update:

SN is about to cancel most of its flights as a consequence of flightcare running out of de-icing fluid until tomorrow Wednesday AT LEAST! Only a minimal service is going to be maintained this evening and tonight, but no details are available yet.

Here's the official pax communication:

Flight cancellations expected in Brussels today 20 December

Due to the winter weather conditions preventing the de-icing fluid provider of Brussels Airport to deliver additional fluid, Brussels Airlines is forced to cancel a number of flights in the course of today, 20 December.

For latest information on your flight, check the section "Flight Status" (click here) or via your mobile device on http://m.brusselsairlines.com or contact our Customer Contact Centre: tel:+32 2 723 23 62

As a result of the current weather conditions and the impact on flights in Western Europe, our website (and particularly the "Flight status" section) is being exposed to unusual amounts of traffic. When looking up your flight status, you might have to submit your information multiple times before the results are shown.

We recommend to check the status of your flight before travelling to the airport.

Since is not sure if tomorrow there will be fluid delivered to BRU, this may become the second long term grounding in 2010.... Oh boy...

thanks for sharing.