NEW YORK (AP) -- There's good news for fans of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: A helium shortage that has rattled markets around the world this year will not have a deflating effect on the annual New York holiday tradition.
Stay tuned to WCBS on air and online for our coverage of the Parade.
The parade's allotment of the lighter-than-air gas was set aside before the shortage began, meaning Snoopy, Garfield, Dora the Explorer and a host of other gigantic balloons will have all the helium they need as they float their way down Broadway.
``We're certainly sensitive to the situation, and aware of it,'' said Elina Kazan, a spokeswoman for Macy's.
The helium shortage has been cause for concern for a few months now, according to officials at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the helium industry. Three refining plants in Qatar and Algeria have been off-line while demand has increased, said Leslie Theiss, who manages the BLM office in Amarillo, Texas, where the nation's largest crude helium extraction operation is located.
Supplies may be further constrained this month because of scheduled maintenance at the Texas facility, which will close the operation down for about 10 to 14 days, Theiss said. ``We hope that Macy's has what they need, because we certainly want them to have their parade,'' she said.
In the past, the Thanksgiving Day Parade has gobbled up about 400,000 standard cubic feet of the odorless, colorless gas to propel the balloons on their 2 1/2 mile route above tens of thousands of spectators, according to the BOC Group, which has supplied Macy's helium for the last 12 years.
That might seem like a lot. But to put that in perspective, NASA uses about 60 million to 70 million standard cubic feet of helium in years when there are four space launches. The helium is used in NASA's spaceflight hardware to clear fuel lines.
John Piper, the head of the Macy's Studio in Hoboken, N.J., where the balloons and floats are built, called 400,000 standard cubic feet an estimate of the most the parade could ever use. He said the parade would be using approximately 250,000 standard cubic feet this year.
But Piper said the significantly lower amount has nothing to do with the shortage. ``We don't have quite as many of our giant character balloons,'' he said.
Piper and Kazan could not say whether the helium was more expensive this year.
Kristina Schurr, a spokeswoman with the BOC Group, said her company also does not comment on cost. But, she said, ``Every year, just about, BOC and other helium suppliers are raising prices,'' given the tight supply.
Current crude helium prices are $58.75 per thousand cubic feet, according to the BLM.
The helium used for the parade is refined in Kansas, liquefied and shipped in tanks in trucks to Middlesex, N.J., Schurr said. There, the helium is converted to a gas again, put into tube trailers that can carry compressed gases at high pressure, and delivered to Macy's the day before the parade.
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