New York, Paris: As Europe grounded most airline flights for a fourth day on Sunday because of a volcanic ash cloud spreading from Iceland, increasingly desperate airlines ran test flights to show that flying was safe and pressed aviation authorities to loosen the flight ban.
Airlines complained that European governments were overreacting to the threat, relying on incomplete data from computer models rather than real-world safety tests in the air above Europe. In a blunt statement Sunday, representatives of Europe's airlines and airports called for "an immediate reassessment of the present restrictions."
Europe's transportation ministers decided to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss how and when to get planes back in the air. "It is clear that this is not sustainable," the European Union's transport commissioner, Siim Kallas, told reporters in Brussels. "We cannot just wait until this ash cloud dissipates."
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, finally arrived back in Germany from San Francisco, after a three-day odyssey through North Dakota, Portugal and Italy via plane, armored car and bus. And one group of intrepid Samaritans tried to evacuate stranded travelers by dinghy from Calais, France, to Dover, England.
Authorities are concerned that if an airplane moves through the ash cloud, which contains high levels of silica, a glasslike dust, the engines could seize or stall.
National aviation authorities continued to send conflicting messages to airlines and passengers on Sunday. While some isolated airports, like Frankfurt, Berlin and Warsaw, cleared the way for a handful of flights heading away from the ash cloud, most flights in northern and central Europe remained grounded.
Complicating any decisions is the continued eruption of the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull. As the ash cloud from the volcano has spread, it has shut down airports from the British Isles to Ukraine, disrupting the travel plans of nearly 7 million travelers, according to one industry estimate. Delta Air Lines, Cathay Pacific of Hong Kong, Qantas of Australia and China Airlines of Taiwan were among those that canceled Europe-bound flights through Monday.
The interruption in service, particularly across the Atlantic, comes as the industry had just started to recover from the global recession, with business and international travel picking up.
European airlines were already suffering from the slow pace of economic recovery there. Even before the latest crisis, the International Air Transport Association had projected that the industry would lose $2.8 billion this year, down from last year's loss of $9.4 billion.
"These disruptions could not have come at a more difficult time as airlines in Europe and elsewhere struggle," said Steve Lott, a spokesman for the industry group. "The big wildcard is, how long does this last and how long before we can get flights back in the air?"
In a conference call Sunday with Eurocontrol, one airline representative sharply chastised national civil aviation authorities for being inconsistent in applying flight restrictions and stressed that the flight bans were creating "a serious economic issue for us."
"I understand the requirement for safety," said Dale Moss, the chief executive of OpenSkies, the Paris-based, all-business-class subsidiary of British Airways. "But the level of frustration is painfully high" for both airlines and passengers, he said. "We need some scientific data quick, so that we can start projecting and putting contingency plans in place."
KLM received permission from authorities to fly three cargo planes to Asia on Sunday night. The airline's chief executive, Peter Hartman, suggested that passenger flights would be safe "with the exception of an area in the north between Iceland and Russia," according to Dutch news services.
The events in Europe have also had an economic effect on American carriers. The four-day closing of European airports so far has meant lost revenue of $80 million for U.S. carriers that fly the lucrative trans-Atlantic route, said Michael Boyd, an aviation consultant. It also meant a loss of connecting passengers, who often fly from Europe to the United States, and then on to another domestic destination.
"We've never seen such a wall across the Atlantic," said Boyd. "If you are heavily dependent on traffic to Europe, you are in a world of hurt right now."
Even if flights resumed this week, it could take days for the situation to return to normal, said Darin Lee, an airline specialist at LECG, an economic consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass.
"Re-accommodating several days worth of passengers can take quite a while, since there just aren't as many empty seats on flights as there used to be," Lee said. "Some passengers could face very long waits before being able to take their journey, and for many passengers, it simply won't be practical to reschedule."
While much of Europe's airspace remained closed, the airport in Reykjavik, Iceland's capital, was still open for business since southern winds were pushing ash away from the small rocky island in the North Atlantic.
The shutdown of Heathrow airport, the world's busiest, also allowed authorities for the first time to inspect runways on foot in broad daylight instead of in the middle of the night.
Airlines complained that European governments were overreacting to the threat, relying on incomplete data from computer models rather than real-world safety tests in the air above Europe. In a blunt statement Sunday, representatives of Europe's airlines and airports called for "an immediate reassessment of the present restrictions."
Europe's transportation ministers decided to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss how and when to get planes back in the air. "It is clear that this is not sustainable," the European Union's transport commissioner, Siim Kallas, told reporters in Brussels. "We cannot just wait until this ash cloud dissipates."
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, finally arrived back in Germany from San Francisco, after a three-day odyssey through North Dakota, Portugal and Italy via plane, armored car and bus. And one group of intrepid Samaritans tried to evacuate stranded travelers by dinghy from Calais, France, to Dover, England.
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Authorities are concerned that if an airplane moves through the ash cloud, which contains high levels of silica, a glasslike dust, the engines could seize or stall.
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National aviation authorities continued to send conflicting messages to airlines and passengers on Sunday. While some isolated airports, like Frankfurt, Berlin and Warsaw, cleared the way for a handful of flights heading away from the ash cloud, most flights in northern and central Europe remained grounded.
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Complicating any decisions is the continued eruption of the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull. As the ash cloud from the volcano has spread, it has shut down airports from the British Isles to Ukraine, disrupting the travel plans of nearly 7 million travelers, according to one industry estimate. Delta Air Lines, Cathay Pacific of Hong Kong, Qantas of Australia and China Airlines of Taiwan were among those that canceled Europe-bound flights through Monday.
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The interruption in service, particularly across the Atlantic, comes as the industry had just started to recover from the global recession, with business and international travel picking up.
Advertisement
European airlines were already suffering from the slow pace of economic recovery there. Even before the latest crisis, the International Air Transport Association had projected that the industry would lose $2.8 billion this year, down from last year's loss of $9.4 billion.
"These disruptions could not have come at a more difficult time as airlines in Europe and elsewhere struggle," said Steve Lott, a spokesman for the industry group. "The big wildcard is, how long does this last and how long before we can get flights back in the air?"
In a conference call Sunday with Eurocontrol, one airline representative sharply chastised national civil aviation authorities for being inconsistent in applying flight restrictions and stressed that the flight bans were creating "a serious economic issue for us."
"I understand the requirement for safety," said Dale Moss, the chief executive of OpenSkies, the Paris-based, all-business-class subsidiary of British Airways. "But the level of frustration is painfully high" for both airlines and passengers, he said. "We need some scientific data quick, so that we can start projecting and putting contingency plans in place."
KLM received permission from authorities to fly three cargo planes to Asia on Sunday night. The airline's chief executive, Peter Hartman, suggested that passenger flights would be safe "with the exception of an area in the north between Iceland and Russia," according to Dutch news services.
The events in Europe have also had an economic effect on American carriers. The four-day closing of European airports so far has meant lost revenue of $80 million for U.S. carriers that fly the lucrative trans-Atlantic route, said Michael Boyd, an aviation consultant. It also meant a loss of connecting passengers, who often fly from Europe to the United States, and then on to another domestic destination.
"We've never seen such a wall across the Atlantic," said Boyd. "If you are heavily dependent on traffic to Europe, you are in a world of hurt right now."
Even if flights resumed this week, it could take days for the situation to return to normal, said Darin Lee, an airline specialist at LECG, an economic consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass.
"Re-accommodating several days worth of passengers can take quite a while, since there just aren't as many empty seats on flights as there used to be," Lee said. "Some passengers could face very long waits before being able to take their journey, and for many passengers, it simply won't be practical to reschedule."
While much of Europe's airspace remained closed, the airport in Reykjavik, Iceland's capital, was still open for business since southern winds were pushing ash away from the small rocky island in the North Atlantic.
The shutdown of Heathrow airport, the world's busiest, also allowed authorities for the first time to inspect runways on foot in broad daylight instead of in the middle of the night.
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