At long last - airlines set to rise from the ashes
Source: Agencies |
April 20, 2010, Tuesday
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EUROPEAN transport officials have carved up the sky, creating three zones to break the flight deadlock caused by a cloud of volcanic ash flowing from Iceland over the continent.
France said yesterday that European countries can resume airline traffic in designated "caution zones" where the threat of ash is considered less dangerous.
Under the accord, one area - defined by the European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol - will remain off limits to flights. Another will be open to all flights and a third area will be a caution zone in which some flights will be allowed.
Jean-Louis Borloo, the No. 2 French Cabinet official, said flights in the caution zone would be "very secure" with many tests on engines.
Germany's aviation authority broke the flight deadlock yesterday, granting Lufthansa an exemption to fly 50 long-haul planes carrying 15,000 passengers back home.
Britain chimed in with more good news, saying flight restrictions over Scottish airspace would be lifted this morning and other British airports could reopen later in the day.
The British government also sent Royal Navy warships to rescue citizens marooned across the Channel by flight cancellations.
As airline losses spiraled to more than US$1 billion, the aviation industry blasted European officials, claiming there was "no coordination and no leadership" in the crisis that shut down most European airports for a fifth day.
Less than a third of flights in Europe were taking off yesterday, between 8,000 and 9,000 of 28,000 scheduled flights. Airports in southern Europe were open, however, and Spain offered to become an emergency hub for the whole continent.
Lufthansa spokesman Jan Baerwald said the planes, scattered around the world, would start getting ready "right now."
The first flights will be from the Far East, with others following from Africa and North America.
The planes would fly to Frankfurt, Munich and Duesseldorf under visual flight rules, he said.
"We have an exception that allows us to fly so-called visual flight rules," he said.
These allow a pilot to fly the airplane without reference to instruments, if weather conditions are good enough so the pilot can see landmarks and avoid other aircraft. Those flights need to be under 5,490 meters, lower than usual altitude for commercial traffic.
In Iceland, meteorologists said eruptions from the volcano were weakening and the ash was no longer rising to a height where it would endanger large commercial aircraft.
Hundreds of thousands of passengers have been stranded around the world since the volcano began erupting last Wednesday.
Passengers in some areas of Asia, frustrated over sleeping on floors for days and running out of money, staged protests at airport counters.
France said yesterday that European countries can resume airline traffic in designated "caution zones" where the threat of ash is considered less dangerous.
Under the accord, one area - defined by the European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol - will remain off limits to flights. Another will be open to all flights and a third area will be a caution zone in which some flights will be allowed.
Jean-Louis Borloo, the No. 2 French Cabinet official, said flights in the caution zone would be "very secure" with many tests on engines.
Germany's aviation authority broke the flight deadlock yesterday, granting Lufthansa an exemption to fly 50 long-haul planes carrying 15,000 passengers back home.
Britain chimed in with more good news, saying flight restrictions over Scottish airspace would be lifted this morning and other British airports could reopen later in the day.
The British government also sent Royal Navy warships to rescue citizens marooned across the Channel by flight cancellations.
As airline losses spiraled to more than US$1 billion, the aviation industry blasted European officials, claiming there was "no coordination and no leadership" in the crisis that shut down most European airports for a fifth day.
Less than a third of flights in Europe were taking off yesterday, between 8,000 and 9,000 of 28,000 scheduled flights. Airports in southern Europe were open, however, and Spain offered to become an emergency hub for the whole continent.
Lufthansa spokesman Jan Baerwald said the planes, scattered around the world, would start getting ready "right now."
The first flights will be from the Far East, with others following from Africa and North America.
The planes would fly to Frankfurt, Munich and Duesseldorf under visual flight rules, he said.
"We have an exception that allows us to fly so-called visual flight rules," he said.
These allow a pilot to fly the airplane without reference to instruments, if weather conditions are good enough so the pilot can see landmarks and avoid other aircraft. Those flights need to be under 5,490 meters, lower than usual altitude for commercial traffic.
In Iceland, meteorologists said eruptions from the volcano were weakening and the ash was no longer rising to a height where it would endanger large commercial aircraft.
Hundreds of thousands of passengers have been stranded around the world since the volcano began erupting last Wednesday.
Passengers in some areas of Asia, frustrated over sleeping on floors for days and running out of money, staged protests at airport counters.
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