Business
Weather economics
Testing Tempest History making storms struck the Grand Duchy this winter. Did it have a negative impact on the economy, or simply fray nerves? Text: Aaron Grunwald
It is not your imagination: it has been a rough winter. Unusually heavy snow and ice storms hit Luxembourg several times from late November through New Year’s weekend, which was followed by flooding of the Moselle River and tributaries in early January. But what has been the actual cost of this winter’s bad weather? While individual families and businesses suffered significant hardships, Delano’s tally finds limited overall blow to the economy. The transportation industry was perhaps hardest hit. LuxairGroup is still calculating the total financial effect of this winter’s snow and ice, and expects to present the figures in its annual report this May. “The impact will of course be quite heavy as cancelled flights generate hotel cost, transportation, passenger care and extra handling,” says the company’s head of corporate commu-
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nications, Yves Hoffmann. For example, the cost of de-icing a Boeing 747 cargo plane is between €3,000-5,500, depending on the specific weather conditions before takeoff, and therefore the amount of liquid that is needed. Smaller planes in its fleet use less liquid, so incur less cost. “Some passengers also got compensation, and at one point we had to lease a plane in order to relieve the numerous passengers that were stuck,” Hoffmann states. Snow and Ice A spokesman for CFL says the national railway does not disclose financial costs related to bad weather. However, he states “the Luxembourg rail network was not disrupted in any significant manner” in December. In contrast, fewer than half of all German trains ran on time during the same period of heavy snow-
CIG PRICE HIKE The price of cigaFeb rettes went up 20 centimes per pack, bringing Luxembourg in line with European Commission anti-smoking requirements. Health minister Mars Di Bartolomeo said he would move towards a full smoking ban in bars and clubs.
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fall, according to an investigation by the newspaper Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung. Belgium’s ground transport sector lost €100 million due to snow-related road closures in the Grand Duchy, reported the Luxembourg Confederation of Commerce. The trade group says more than 30,000 trucks were stopped near the border for at least 60 hours in December. At the same time, weather-related insurance claims have not been excessively high, according to Paul Hammelmann, legal advisor at the Association of Insurance Companies. Road accident claims were approximately four million euro higher than normal during the two-month bad weather period, he says. “People were very careful when they were driving.” Hammelmann does not expect the cost of car insurance to rise as a result of
DAYTIME HEADLAMPS feb All new passenger cars sold in the EU now have automatic headlamps. Studies in Scandinavia show 15% fewer road deaths occur when headlights are turned on automatically. New trucks must have the technology installed starting in 2012.
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HIGHER AIR TIX National airline Luxair feb raised its fuel surcharge by €2 per take-off. The airline said jet fuel prices have increased an average of 10% since the beginning of the year. Luxair previously upped its surcharge by the same amount on January 1.
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