While flights have been cancelled at many UK airports, the Isle of Man’s Ronaldsway airport experienced a particularly sticky situation on December 8, when the airport’s ground handler ran out of de-icer fluid, resulting in flights being cancelled or delayed overnight.
Friday saw Ronaldsway airport hit by ongoing snow showers which led to unusually high de-icing requirements, with some aircraft needing repeated treatment before taking off. As a result, the handling agent based at the airport used up its entire annual stock of 9,000 litres of glycol in just one day.
Airport Director Ann Reynolds explained that typically, during cold frost and ice conditions, about 100-120 litres of de-icing fluid are needed to de-ice an aircraft before departure, whereas snow necessitates six or seven times this volume.
On the Friday, one aircraft was de-iced and taxied three times before it was able to take off, using around 1,800 litres of de-icing fluid - the typical equivalent of de-icing 15 aircraft.
“By early evening the handling agent had used up its annual stock of around 9,000 litres in one day, and therefore informed the airlines operating that evening that it could not offer an aircraft de-icing service until the following day,” Reynolds explained.
Some flights were cancelled as a result and easyJet put an overnight delay on its Bristol, Gatwick and Liverpool services. However, more de-icing fluid was sent in on the overnight ferry, and normal de-icing services resumed from the morning of Saturday 9 December.
“The handling agent currently has about 24,000 litres of de-icing fluid here,” Reynolds added.
No further aircraft de-icing issues have been reported, with the deficit lasting around four hours on the Friday evening in total.
