Aviation crisis

New Europe flights give hope to stranded passengers

European governments opened the continent's airspace to new flights from Tuesday giving hope to passengers around the world trapped by the cloud of volcano ash that has grounded airlines there.

But British air traffic chiefs warned that the Icelandic volcano at the source of the chaos had spewed a fresh cloud of ash that was headed for Britain.

On Monday, as the dust that has blanketed much of Europe's skies forced the cancellation of another 20,000 flights, Britain sent navy ships and other governments took their own measures to rescue stranded passengers.

But under relentless pressure from airlines who have lost more than a billion dollars from the crisis so far, EU transport ministers agreed to ease restrictions from Tuesday.

"From tomorrow morning on, we should progressively see more planes start to fly," EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said Monday.

Europe's air traffic control group Eurocontrol subsequently predicted that flights over the continent could be running normally again by Thursday.

France said it was progressively reopening its airports, with restricted flights from Paris to start from early Tuesday. And although flights over Germany remained banned until 1200 GMT Tuesday, some operated with special permission. German flag carrier Lufthansa on Monday announced the immediate resumption of all its long-haul flights.

KLM said it would be flying in and out of Amsterdam Tuesday, after three of its flights left Amsterdam-Schiphol airport Monday for Shanghai, Dubai and New York.

Flights heading for Europe from New York's John F. Kennedy airport also started to run again late Monday.

Authorities in Sweden, Croatia, Hungary and the Czech Republic announced flights were resuming. Romania and Bulgaria announced their airspace had been reopened, while Switzerland said its airspace would reopen early Tuesday.

But hopes that the ash cloud nightmare might be over were tempered by the latest bulletin from British aviation chiefs Tuesday.

"The volcano eruption in Iceland has strengthened and a new ash cloud is spreading south and east towards the UK," said the National Air Traffic Services (NATS), which manages British airspace.

That made it less likely London airports would be reopened Tuesday, as had been hoped, although plans to open airspace in Scotland should still go ahead, said the air authority.

The problem meanwhile had spread west across the Atlantic, as Canada's Saint John's, Newfoundland announced it had cancelled a batch of domestic flights because of fears the ash would reach their airspace.

On the other side of the world, Australia warned travellers Tuesday that hotel accommodation in Asian transport hubs was limited because of the air travel crisis.

"Travellers departing Australia on Europe-bound flights may experience difficulties obtaining accommodation in transit hubs such as Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong," said a message on the foreign ministry's website.

In Europe, marooned passengers juggled rail, boat and road links, in a bid to get home.

Britain ordered its flagship aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and HMS Ocean and HMS Albion to pick up thousands of Britons from France - where they have come from all over Europe - and from Spain.

And Spain, one of the rare countries operating normally, has struck an agreement with Britain, France and Germany to fly hundreds of thousands of their nationals back to Europe via Spanish airports.

Nearly seven million passengers have been affected by the blanket shutdowns, which governments have insisted were essential on safety grounds, given the possibility that the ash could choke up jet engines and provoke air disasters.

But the airlines have criticised EU leaders for their handling of the chaos sparked by Iceland's Eyjafjoell volcano, which began erupting last Wednesday.

"This is a European embarrassment and it's a European mess," said Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

But as airlines argued their case, a senior US military official said the ash had affected one of NATO's F-16 fighter planes, which detected a glass build-up inside its engine.

Ash from volcanoes can be turned into a glass form at high temperatures when it passes through a jet engine.

Companies are losing 200 million euros (270 million dollars) per day according to IATA. AFP

Volcano chaos losing Asia carriers US $ 40 m a day

Asia Pacific airlines are losing an estimated 40 million dollars a day from the closure of European airspace due to a volcanic eruption, the head of an industry group said Tuesday.

Andrew Herdman, director-general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), also joined a clamour for European authorities to urgently review the closures with a view to reopening certain routes.

Thousands of flights have been cancelled and hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded worldwide since last week after European authorities designated much of the continent a no-fly zone due to ash clouds spewing from the volcano in Iceland.

A passenger uses his laptop while waiting in the departures hall of Hong Kong’s international airport on April 20, 2010

The authorities fear that the ash and dust could pose a danger to jet engines and airliner airframes, but carriers worldwide have slammed the blanket shutout.

"As a matter of urgency, all the relevant parties... need to do an urgent review of the overall situation to gather all information on the real nature of the dispersion of ash across Europe," Herdman told AFP.

This would help them "make a decision accordingly as to which part of airspace can be reopened." "This should be a priority both in economic and political terms," he said.

"We need to base our decisions on as many facts as we can about the actual concentration of ash in European airspace, and we need to come up with a plan to reestablish and reopen European airspace when conditions allow." While it was difficult to accurately calculate the losses, he cited one "reasonable estimate" that the cost for Asia Pacific airlines could reach 40 million dollars a day in lost revenue.

This is based on estimates of Asian carriers's incomes on European routes and assuming that most of the flights had been cancelled, he said.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has estimated the loss for global airlines at 200 million euros (270 million dollars) per day.

Europe accounts for an average 15 percent of passenger revenues for Asia Pacific carriers, although the figures vary among the airlines, Herdman said.

While cargo between Europe and Asia is mostly transported by sea, the goods carried by airplanes include high-value items, so the economic impact could be significantly higher relative to the tonnage, he noted.

AAPA groups 17 carriers in the Asia Pacific region, including Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines and Australia's Qantas. AFP

Criticism over airspace closure:

EU disagrees with airlines'

The EU disagrees with airlines' criticism of the closure of airspace due to the ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano, its Spanish presidency said Monday, adding safety should be the main concern.

"We do not share the criticism made by airlines," Spanish Transport Minister Jose Blanco told a news briefing following a video conference of transport ministers from across the European Union.

"We are aware that they are going through a hard time. This situation is causing them important losses, but safety is paramount," he added.

This high-resolution view of the plume coming outthe Eyjafjoell volcano released by the Nasa Earth Observatory on April 20, 2010

Airspace across much of Europe has been closed since Thursday due to an ash cloud from the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjoell volcano in the biggest flight disruption since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

But Blanco, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said European transport ministers agreed to ease from Tuesday restrictions on flights in areas "where the concentration of dust particles is reduced".

"This zone will be defined based on the available data which has been supplied by the various airlines which have carried out test flights under the supervision of national civil aviation authorities as well as scientific institutions specialised in the study of volcanos and weather offices."

Earlier, the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Giovanni Bisignani, urged governments to reopen routes through the volcanic ash cloud over Europe after airlines successfully carried out test flights.

IATA, which represents the global airline industry, said companies are losing 200 million dollars (148 million euros) per day and it urged governments to reopen routes through the volcanic ash cloud over Europe after airlines successfully carried out test flights.

Air France-KLM said that it alone was losing 35 million euros per day while British Airways said lost revenue and one-off charges came to 15-20 million pounds (17-23 million euros, 23-30 million dollars) per day. AFP

Air traffic should be back to normal Thursday

European air traffic is expected to return to normal on Thursday, after a week of cancellations and disruption due to the ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano, the intergovernmental Eurocontrol said.

"If things continue to look like now and the volcano will not spread ashes to Europe we're probably back to normal operations by Thursday," said Bo Redeborn, director of Eurocontrol, which coordinates air traffic control across Europe.

"If 30 percent of flights were operated today, maybe we can expect another 10 to 15 percent to come back during tomorrow, and maybe another 10-15 percent the day after," he said Monday, after EU transport ministers agreed to ease air space restrictions which have hit airlines and their passengers since last Thursday.

Redeborn said there would still be a no-fly zone, where the volcanic cloud is deemed to be at dangerous concentrations for jet engines. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre will issue maps every six hours showing where the no-fly zones are, as the ash cloud moves around.

If a high concentration is found above an airport then it must be closed and no air traffic allowed through the area, the Eurocontrol official said.

Eurocontrol, the European organisation for the safety of air navigation, is made up of 38 nations across the continent. AFP