IRELAND’S MAJOR airlines Aer Lingus and Ryanair say they are hoping discounted flights and promotional offers will help encourage people to fly, in the wake of the volcanic ash cloud.
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) says it will continue to monitor the volcano but hopes “some lessons had been learned” from the recent disruption that would reduce restrictions placed on airlines.
Following reports from geophysicists yesterday that Iceland’s erupting volcano was no longer active, both airlines say they are offering discounts on summer holiday travel to boost seat sales.
A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus, which suffered losses of millions of euros since the volcano erupted on April 14th, said the company had reduced the price of flights to Europe by 20 per cent to encourage travel in June and July. She said at present it was “business as normal”.
A spokeswoman for Ryanair said the airline was releasing one million “summer seats” from €8, for travel in June on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The company was critical of the London based Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), saying the information that emerged from it was “not alone unreliable, but substantially fictitious”.
It added: “The theoretical plotting of imaginary black plumes of volcanic ash, many thousands of miles from Iceland, when thousands of flights taken by European airlines have repeatedly confirmed no presence of volcanic ash has reduced airline confidence in the VAAC charts to zero.”
However, experts in Iceland say it is not possible to say with certainty the volcano will not erupt again soon.
The IAA says it will make no comment on the likelihood of another eruption, but will monitor data from Iceland and the ash advisory centre and will issue statements as necessary.
TIM O’BRIEN