EUROPEAN DISRUPTION:HUNDREDS OF thousands of air travellers face further disruption across Europe this weekend as top aviation officials warned that there was no prospect that the huge ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano would clear up in the next 24 hours.
A “unique” wave of disruption intensified yesterday with the cancellation of up to 13,000 flights, as airports closed in more than a dozen countries due to fears that flying amid the ash would trigger catastrophic engine failures in aircraft.
MEPs were stranded in Brussels for the weekend, train and ferry bookings soared, and taxi firms in London received requests for journeys to Paris, Milan, Zurich and Salzburg. “The skies are completely empty over the major part of northern Europe,” said Brian Flynn, assistant head of network operations at the European aviation body Eurocontrol.
“It is very difficult for any significant movement of air traffic in the northern part of Europe to take place . . .Whereas the disruption is major and unprecedented in Europe, it is unavoidable given the nature of the problem,” he told reporters in Brussels.
The ash cloud has already led to the cancellation of flights in countries as far apart as Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden.
According to Mr Flynn, the cloud is likely to move further to the south and east.
While he said ash fallings on the ground validated technical projections of the cloud’s spread, Eurocontrol acknowledged yesterday that a “rehearsal” last year did not predict that an eruption of the volcano below the Eyjafjallajokull glacier would spread ash across such a wide area.
Volcanologists believe the ash could continue to cause problems to air traffic for up to six months if the eruption continues.
However, Eurocontrol declined to provide an assessment of the long-term outlook.
“I don’t think we can think that far ahead,” said Joe Sultana, deputy director of Eurocontrol’s control flow management unit.
While the volcano spewed ash continuously on Thursday, he said the eruption was “sporadic” yesterday.
With key aviation officials planning to review their response to the crisis at a meeting on Monday, Mr Sultana said he could not say whether the European authorities “over-reacted or under-reacted” to the problem.
“Eurocontrol expects around 12,000 flights to take place today in European airspace. On a normal day we would expect 28,000,” the organisation said.
On Thursday, the first day of disruption, there were 20,334 flights in European airspace.
The International Air Transport Association, which represents 230 global air carriers, said the estimated cost of the shutdown to airlines was in excess of $200 million (€148.3 million) per day.
“In addition to lost revenues, airlines will incur added costs for rerouting of aircraft, care for stranded passengers and stranded aircraft at various ports,” the association said.
Reflecting fears in the airline sector that the disruption could continue for some time to come, Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific encouraged its passengers to postpone “non-essential travels” to Europe until May in view of the widespread flight disruption.
The European Commission said all air passengers whose flights were cancelled by European airlines had the right to choose either reimbursement of fares or to be rerouted to their final destination.