Europe News

Airline trade group slams Europe's handling of ash cloud

Apr 19, 2010, 15:10 GMT

The Iceland volcano Eyjafjallajokull continues to erupt 19 April 2010 causing widespread air traffic disruption with clouds of volcanic ash. EPA/VILHELM GUNNARSSON

Brussels/Paris/Oslo - Costs mounted on Monday over the massive European air traffic disruptions caused by a volcanic ash cloud from Iceland, dealing a blow to an industry that has already been hit by lower demand in the wake of the global downturn.

Share prices of airlines like Air France-KLM, Germany's Lufthansa and British Airways (BA) were down.

BA said its losses were up to 20 million pounds (30 million dollars) a day for lost passengers and freight revenue, as well as costs incurred by supporting passengers unable to fly home.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh also confirmed that European airlines had asked the European Union and national governments for financial compensation.

EU transport ministers - also affected by flight bans - were set to discuss by teleconference whether to reopen European airspace.

Eurocontrol, the European air safety body, said 70 per cent of European flights were expected to be grounded for the day.

Over 1,000 of the 5,250 flights scheduled to operate between Spain and affected north European countries were cancelled Monday.

Airspace also remained closed over Britain and Germany - home to several major airports, including Heathrow in London and Frankfurt.

Britain's National Air Traffic Services (NATS) extended the flying ban over British airspace to at least midnight GMT Tuesday, the same time as in Germany.

Several countries, including Norway, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic, re-opened parts or all of their airspace. Restrictions for international flights were still in place.

Denmark said it would allow flights to fly over at high altitude, but airports were not to open until Tuesday morning.

EU competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia signalled that state aid to European airlines impacted by flight bans could be considered, along the lines of exceptions invoked in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

'Given the situation and the difficult consequences for the companies, we can and should consider a framework similar to which we adopted in 2001,' Almunia said in Brussels.

The EU's transport commissioner, Siim Kallas, said any state aid 'must be carefully assessed' to ensure 'a level playing field' and avoid giving an 'advantage to some sectors of the economy.'

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the body that represents the world's airlines, had earlier criticized how European governments assessed risk levels from the ash cloud.

'There has been no risk assessment, no consultation, no coordination and no leadership,' IATA head Giovanni Bisignani told journalists in the French capital, Paris.

Airspaces must be reopened quickly, as soon as facts based upon tests are available, he said.

Bisignani said that airlines were losing at least 200 million dollars a day in revenue, and the airspace shutdown was costing the European economy 'billions of dollars in lost business.'

Some airlines had conducted test flights on Sunday and said they had not found signs of glass build-up inside the engines.

But F-16 fighter aircraft on a test flight in European airspace have found glass building up in their engines from the cloud of volcanic ash which has forced the closure of the continent's airspace, a senior US official said Monday.

The Icelandic Met Office on Monday reported that the plume of ash from the volcano near the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier was lower than in previous days, and less ash was being spewed into the air.

In the meantime, several governments discussed alternative means of transporting stranded travellers.

Britain will deploy Royal Navy ships to repatriate hundreds of thousands of stranded travellers, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.

In Germany, some 1,600 special visas were issued to passengers stranded at Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf, so they could leave the airports.

Spain would offer its airports as a hub for transatlantic flights, Infrastructure Minister Jose Blanco said.

Airlines and travel operators also continued their efforts to offer alternatives. Finnish carrier Finnair said land transports would replace flights from Helsinki to Berlin on Monday and Tuesday. Passengers were to travel by ferry to neighbouring Estonia and continue by bus to Berlin - a 34-hour journey.