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A plume of volcanic ash rises into the atmosphere from a crater under the ice at the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in southern Iceland - Source: Reuters -
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A huge ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano spread out across
Europe causing air travel chaos for a second day and costing
airlines hundreds of millions of dollars.
The plume that floated through the upper atmosphere, where it could
wreak havoc on jet engines and airframes, threw travel plans into
disarray on both sides of the Atlantic.
Severe disruption of European air traffic was expected on Saturday
because of the dangers posed by the volcanic ash, aviation
officials said. Airports in much of Britain, France and Germany
remained closed and flights were set to be grounded in Hungary and
parts of Romania.
"I am furious and frustrated," said Sara Bicoccih, stranded at
Frankfurt airport on her way home to Italy from Miami.
The US military had to reroute many flights, including those
evacuating the wounded from Afghanistan and Iraq, a Pentagon
spokesman said.
"I would think Europe was probably experiencing its greatest
disruption to air travel since 9/11," a spokesman for the Civil
Aviation Authority, Britain's aviation regulator, said.
"In terms of closure of airspace, this is worse than after 9/11.
The disruption is probably larger than anything we've probably
seen."
Following the attacks on Washington and New York in 2001, US
airspace was closed for three days and European airlines were
forced to halt all transatlantic services.
Mounting cost
Disruption from the volcanic ash eruption in Iceland is costing
airlines more than $200 million a day, air industry group the
International Air Transport Association said.
But unless the cloud disrupts flights for weeks, threatening
factories' supply chains, economists do not think it will
significantly slow Europe's shaky recovery from recession or affect
second-quarter gross domestic product figures.
"The overall impact should be very limited even if the problem
persists for a day or more ... ," IHS Global Insight chief UK and
European economist Howard Archer said.
Vulcanologists say the ash could cause problems to air traffic for
up to six months if the eruption continues. The financial impact on
airlines could be significant.
The fallout hit airline shares on Friday with Lufthansa, British
Airways, Air Berlin, Air France-KLM, Iberia and Ryanair down
between 1.4 and 3.0%.
Irish airline Ryanair, Europe's biggest low-cost carrier, said it
would cancel flights to and from northern European countries until
1200 GMT on Monday (midnight Monday NZT).
David Castelveter, a spokesman with the Air Transport Association
of America trade group, said US airlines had cancelled at least 170
flights to and from Europe.
Delta Air Lines, the world's largest airline, cancelled 75 flights
between the United States and European Union on Friday and for
Saturday, it has halted 35 flights from the EU to the United
States, Delta spokesman Anthony Black said.
Plume drifting
Joe Sultana, head of network operations at European air control
agency Eurocontrol, said the situation was unprecedented.
Eurocontrol said it was up to each country when flights were
resumed, based on whether there was clear air.
For example, it is clear in parts of Scotland and northern Norway
and Sweden, but clear airspace that had been over Vienna and Geneva
was closing, so they could be affected.
Mark Seltzer, a forecaster at Britain's Met Office, said that on
Friday the plume affected northern Scotland because of
northwesterly winds at high levels.
"However, the winds have become, at upper levels, more westerly and
that is steering it more into Scandinavia, taking it away from
Scotland and Northern Ireland."
The volcano began erupting on Thursday for the second time in a
month from below the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, hurling a plume of
ash six to 11 km into the atmosphere.
Officials said it was still spewing magma and although the eruption
could abate in the coming days, ash would continue drifting into
the skies of Europe.
Iceland's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said there was some damage
to roads and barriers protecting farms.
"There is still an evacuation of around 20 farms, which is 40 to 50
people," she added, noting this was less than the 800 people who
had been evacuated earlier this week.
Merkel diverted
Volcanic ash contains tiny particles of glass and pulverised rock
that can damage engines and airframes.
In 1982, a British Airways jumbo jet lost power in all its engines
when it flew into an ash cloud over Indonesia, gliding towards the
ground before it was able to restart its engines.
The incident prompted the aviation industry to rethink the way it
prepared for ash clouds.
In addition to travel problems, health officials warned that the
volcanic ash could also prove harmful to those with breathing
difficulties.
In Brussels, European aviation control officials said some 12,000
to 13,000 flights were likely to operate in European airspace on
Saturday, compared with about 29,500 normally. The ash was expected
to spread further south and east.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, returning from a trip to the
United States, was diverted to Portugal and was expected to spend
the night in Lisbon.
However, the Polish president's funeral looked set to go ahead on
Sunday as planned, at his family's insistence, despite some world
leaders being unable to fly in. The air problems have
proved a boon for other transport firms. All 58 Eurostar trains
between Britain and Europe were operating full, carrying some
46,500 passengers, and a spokeswoman said they would consider
adding more services.
London taxi firm Addison Lee said it had taken requests for
journeys to Paris, Milan, Zurich and Salzburg in Austria.
Singer Whitney Houston took a ferry from Britain to Ireland for
three concerts in Dublin after her flight was scratched.
