Winter operations
chairman of the DAQCP since July 2021, while Dawe, manager, charter of professional auditors at the IATA, has been running the DAQCP for the past ten years. Lately, the two have been in constant communication with each other because, as Dawe describes, “the workload of the pool has become a bit more intense”. In 1997, eight European airlines – Swissair, Sabena, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, SAS, Finnair and Austrian Airlines – sought to establish lines of communication on anti-icing and de-icing service providers. “The pool started with the intention of saving costs and sharing the workloads of audits that the eight airlines were performing,” explains Dawe. “[The airlines] realised that they were going to the same airports, with the same providers, but they were all auditing separately. It made more sense to pull together.” And so, the DAQCP was born.
A quarter of a century on and things have grown exponentially. Now boasting 139 member airlines, the DAQCP dedicates itself to the continuous improvement of its own organisation, of the standards it upholds and the service providers that it surveys. With such a large pool, the pair are confident of the organisation’s reputation. For example, since a global standard on de-icing was issued back in 2016, the DAQCP has been one of the main bodies championing it and ensuring it is adhered to across the globe. Its relationship with IATA has evolved too. At its beginning, the DAQCP needed IATA’s administrative support after growing past its original eight airlines. Today, the two work as a partnership on certain objectives, with the pool helping to “keep [IATA’s] operational knowledge fresh”, as Dawe puts it. “The DAQCP has a very strong voice, which it uses to speak to service providers all over the world,” Rybkin adds. He goes on to highlight the DAQCP’s main priority and guiding objective: “Our mission is always to make things safer.”
Standard procedure
The DAQCP breeds uniformity in operations for service providers. This makes things safer and more cost-effective for airlines, as well as saving time. “Training becomes easier, work becomes safer and more efficient as employees do not have to trouble themselves with differing protocols,” Dawe says, adding that this can free up time and resources to allow for the improvement of aspects such as customer service. For instance, take what are known in the industry as ‘alternate airports’. As Rybkin says, “It doesn’t matter how good you plan, there is always space for unforeseen circumstances”. This is why every airline has a list of airports lined up as alternative choices when it comes to taking off, landing or if an aircraft is forced to take an alternative route. This results in a huge number of airports and service providers that need to be vetted, with airlines needing assurances that they
Future Airport /
www.futureairport.com 1982
Air Florida Flight 90 crash occurs, due to a combination of pilot error and a prolonged delay between de-icing and take-off.
1997 DAQCP is founded. 2006
DAQCP starts working in partnership with IATA.
2011
will be able to depend on credible anti-icing and de-icing protocols wherever they end up. This is exactly the situation in which the DAQCP is effective. “We can provide assurances that, if an aircraft diverts in winter, it will be properly inspected and treated by qualified people and that it will safely depart,” Rybkin explains. “In a standardised world, we can plan in short-term, medium-term and long-term. This is essential for airlines – to be able to know that they will be able to depend on the same equipment, standards, processes and anything else into the next winter season and three winter seasons after that.”
Widen the wingspan
One of the main reasons for the uptick in Dawe and Rybkin’s workload is due to the news that four North American airlines will be joining the pool. This means that the DAQCP will have to do over 40 evaluations this winter, due to the new auditors. It’s a daunting challenge. Fortunately, a technical training group that Rybkin says represents the “best of the best” of the pool will be ready to jump into action around that time. Far from seeing the inclusion of these four new airlines as a challenge, Dawe and Rybkin express excitement surrounding their inclusion. “We will be able to compare knowledge and look at how different organisations approach providers and problems,” Dawe says. The pool has a certain ripple effect, in that every airline that joins is a victory in and of itself. At the same time, the validation that each new member brings also bolsters the reputation of the existing members and the pool as a whole. This aspect of validation is very important to the DAQCP as it makes its first forays into not only
IATA begins spearheading a project with the aim of developing global de-icing standards.
2016
Global standard on de-icing is issued, championed by the DAQCP.
2022
DAQCP celebrates its 25th anniversary.
Above: De-icing is the process in which an aircraft is sprayed down with a concoction that melts ice that has collected on its surface.
Opposite: Anti-icing is applied after the de- icing process, helping to keep an aircraft’s wings free from frost during the flight.
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DAQCP
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