Airline test flights offer hopes European ash crisis may end
Source: Agencies |
April 19, 2010, Monday
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SEVERAL major airlines safely flew test flights without passengers over Europe yesterday despite official warnings about the dangers of a volcanic ash plume, fueling a corporate push to end an economically devastating ban on commercial air traffic.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines said that by noon yesterday it had flown four planes through what it described as a gap in the layer of microscopic dust over Holland and Germany.
The ash began spewing from an Icelandic volcano last Wednesday and has drifted across most of Europe, shutting down airports as far south and east as Bulgaria.
Air France, Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines have also sent up test flights, although most traveled below the altitudes where the ash has been heavily concentrated.
KLM said its planes of various types flew the 185-kilometer flight from Duesseldorf in western Germany to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport at an unspecified normal altitude above 3,000 meters.
They did not encounter the thick cloud of ash.
The announcement prompted some airline officials to wonder whether authorities had overreacted to concerns that the tiny particles of volcanic ash could jam up the engines of passenger jets.
The possibility that the ash had thinned or dispersed over parts of Europe heightened pressure from airline officials losing hundreds of millions of dollars a day to end a flight stoppage that has thrown global travel into chaos and left millions stranded.
"With the weather we are encountering now - clear blue skies and obviously no dense ash cloud to be seen, in our opinion there is absolutely no reason to worry about resuming flights," said Steven Verhagen, vice president of the Dutch Airline Pilots Association and a Boeing 737 pilot for KLM.
Meteorologists warned, however, that the situation above Europe remained unstable and constantly changing with the varying winds and the unpredictability was compounded by the irregular eruptions from the Icelandic volcano spitting more ash into the sky.
KLM had permission from Dutch and European aviation authorities before sending the planes aloft but the Dutch and most other European authorities kept their air space closed to passenger traffic, saying conditions remained risky.
Daniel Hoeltgen, a spokesman for the European Aviation Safety Agency, said the organization was in contact with airlines and national regulators with a view to allowing commercial aircraft to begin operating again.
"But there is currently no consensus as to what consists an acceptable level of ash in the atmosphere," Hoeltgen said. "This is what we are concerned about and this is what we want to bring about so that we can start operating aircraft again in Europe."
Rognvaldur Olafsson, a spokesman for the Civil Protection Agency in Iceland, said yesterday the eruption was continuing.
"It's the same as before," he said. "We're watching it closely and monitoring it."
The British Meteorological Office said there was no way to be sure that areas clear of ash would remain that way.
The aviation industry, already reeling from a punishing economic period, is facing at least US$200 million in losses every day, according to the International Air Transport Association.
National air safety regulators have the right to close down a country's air space in cases of danger. But they can also grant waivers to airlines to conduct test flights.
Scientists said that because the volcano was below a glacial ice cap, magma was being cooled quickly, causing explosions and plumes of grit that could be catastrophic to plane engines, depending on prevailing winds.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines said that by noon yesterday it had flown four planes through what it described as a gap in the layer of microscopic dust over Holland and Germany.
The ash began spewing from an Icelandic volcano last Wednesday and has drifted across most of Europe, shutting down airports as far south and east as Bulgaria.
Air France, Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines have also sent up test flights, although most traveled below the altitudes where the ash has been heavily concentrated.
KLM said its planes of various types flew the 185-kilometer flight from Duesseldorf in western Germany to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport at an unspecified normal altitude above 3,000 meters.
They did not encounter the thick cloud of ash.
The announcement prompted some airline officials to wonder whether authorities had overreacted to concerns that the tiny particles of volcanic ash could jam up the engines of passenger jets.
The possibility that the ash had thinned or dispersed over parts of Europe heightened pressure from airline officials losing hundreds of millions of dollars a day to end a flight stoppage that has thrown global travel into chaos and left millions stranded.
"With the weather we are encountering now - clear blue skies and obviously no dense ash cloud to be seen, in our opinion there is absolutely no reason to worry about resuming flights," said Steven Verhagen, vice president of the Dutch Airline Pilots Association and a Boeing 737 pilot for KLM.
Meteorologists warned, however, that the situation above Europe remained unstable and constantly changing with the varying winds and the unpredictability was compounded by the irregular eruptions from the Icelandic volcano spitting more ash into the sky.
KLM had permission from Dutch and European aviation authorities before sending the planes aloft but the Dutch and most other European authorities kept their air space closed to passenger traffic, saying conditions remained risky.
Daniel Hoeltgen, a spokesman for the European Aviation Safety Agency, said the organization was in contact with airlines and national regulators with a view to allowing commercial aircraft to begin operating again.
"But there is currently no consensus as to what consists an acceptable level of ash in the atmosphere," Hoeltgen said. "This is what we are concerned about and this is what we want to bring about so that we can start operating aircraft again in Europe."
Rognvaldur Olafsson, a spokesman for the Civil Protection Agency in Iceland, said yesterday the eruption was continuing.
"It's the same as before," he said. "We're watching it closely and monitoring it."
The British Meteorological Office said there was no way to be sure that areas clear of ash would remain that way.
The aviation industry, already reeling from a punishing economic period, is facing at least US$200 million in losses every day, according to the International Air Transport Association.
National air safety regulators have the right to close down a country's air space in cases of danger. But they can also grant waivers to airlines to conduct test flights.
Scientists said that because the volcano was below a glacial ice cap, magma was being cooled quickly, causing explosions and plumes of grit that could be catastrophic to plane engines, depending on prevailing winds.
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