Beleaguered travelers get some ash relief
Source: Agencies |
May 18, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THREE of Europe's busiest airports reopened yesterday afternoon after a dense volcanic ash cloud from Iceland dissipated and a no-fly zone was lifted.
Up to 1,000 flights in Europe were hit by the closures.
Flights were landing and taking off from London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports and Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.
All three warned travelers it would take time for airlines to clear the backlog and to contact their airlines before coming to the airport.
Eurocontrol, the continent's air traffic control agency, said 28,000 flights were expected yesterday in Europe, about 1,000 less than normal, mainly due to the disruptions in Britain and the Netherlands.
Icelandic civil protection official Agust Gunnar Gylfason said the ash cloud was traveling to the north, forcing airports in Keflavik and Reykjavik to close.
He said seismic activity at the volcano was unchanged.
All British airspace was open except for smaller airports on remote Scottish islands.
Dublin's international airport reopened at noon. The only Irish airport still closed was Donegal, in the northwest.
Airspace over the North Sea was closed until midnight on Sunday, forcing airplanes to fly around it, and Faeroe Island airports were closed.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh - facing fresh strikes by cabin crews today - called the latest airspace closures "a gross overreaction to a very minor risk."
"I am very concerned that we have decisions on opening and closing of airports based on a theoretical model," he said. "There was no evidence of ash in the skies over London today yet Heathrow was closed."
Aviation officials defended the no-fly zone, saying airline representatives and engine makers last week had agreed to find a way to ensure planes could fly safely in the ash.
Ash can clog jet engines and the April 14 eruption at Iceland's Eyjafjallajokul volcano forced most countries in northern Europe to shut their airspace between April 15 and 20.
This grounded more than 100,000 flights and an estimated 10 million travelers worldwide and cost airlines more than US$2 billion.
Airlines complained bitterly over the airspace closures last month, calling them an overreaction.
Eurostar added four extra trains yesterday - an additional 3,500 seats - between London and Paris to help travelers cope.
Eyjafjallajokul erupted in April for the first time in nearly two centuries. During its last eruption, starting in 1821, its emissions rumbled on for two years.
Up to 1,000 flights in Europe were hit by the closures.
Flights were landing and taking off from London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports and Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.
All three warned travelers it would take time for airlines to clear the backlog and to contact their airlines before coming to the airport.
Eurocontrol, the continent's air traffic control agency, said 28,000 flights were expected yesterday in Europe, about 1,000 less than normal, mainly due to the disruptions in Britain and the Netherlands.
Icelandic civil protection official Agust Gunnar Gylfason said the ash cloud was traveling to the north, forcing airports in Keflavik and Reykjavik to close.
He said seismic activity at the volcano was unchanged.
All British airspace was open except for smaller airports on remote Scottish islands.
Dublin's international airport reopened at noon. The only Irish airport still closed was Donegal, in the northwest.
Airspace over the North Sea was closed until midnight on Sunday, forcing airplanes to fly around it, and Faeroe Island airports were closed.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh - facing fresh strikes by cabin crews today - called the latest airspace closures "a gross overreaction to a very minor risk."
"I am very concerned that we have decisions on opening and closing of airports based on a theoretical model," he said. "There was no evidence of ash in the skies over London today yet Heathrow was closed."
Aviation officials defended the no-fly zone, saying airline representatives and engine makers last week had agreed to find a way to ensure planes could fly safely in the ash.
Ash can clog jet engines and the April 14 eruption at Iceland's Eyjafjallajokul volcano forced most countries in northern Europe to shut their airspace between April 15 and 20.
This grounded more than 100,000 flights and an estimated 10 million travelers worldwide and cost airlines more than US$2 billion.
Airlines complained bitterly over the airspace closures last month, calling them an overreaction.
Eurostar added four extra trains yesterday - an additional 3,500 seats - between London and Paris to help travelers cope.
Eyjafjallajokul erupted in April for the first time in nearly two centuries. During its last eruption, starting in 1821, its emissions rumbled on for two years.
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