Ash clouds hurt airlines more than 9/11 attacks
The losses suffered by the airlines across the world due to Icelandic volcano eruption could be higher than September 11 terror attacks in the US, Inter International Air Transport Association, or Iata, said yesterday.
In a revised estimate the aviation trade body's Director-General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said that the estimated losses of airlines now amounted to about $250 million (Dh918m) a day, up from the earlier estimates of $200m a day, resulting in a total loss of about $1.5 billion for the past six days.
"The scale of this crisis is now greater than 9/11 when US air space was closed for three days," said Bisignani, adding that in lost revenue alone, this is costing the industry a lot. "On top of that, airlines face added costs of extra fuel for re-routing and passenger care – hotel, food and telephone calls," he said.
He added that for European carriers – the most severly impacted – this could not have come at a worse time since the region's airlines are already expected to suffer the biggest losses this year. "For each day that aircraft don't fly the losses get bigger. Let me restate that safety is our number one priority," said Bisignani.
Further criticising Europe's unique methodology of closing airspace based on theoretical modelling of the ash cloud, Bisignani said that it could take airlines "three to six days" to get their operations back to normal, adding that airlines have been "dissatisfied" with the response from the official authorities.
"This means that governments have not taken their responsibility to make clear decisions based on facts. Instead, it has been the air navigation service providers who announced that they would not provide service. And these decisions have been taken without adequately consulting the airlines. This is not an acceptable system," he said.
He added that the European system results in blanket closures of airspace.
"I challenge governments to agree on ways to flexibly re-open airspace. Risk assessments should be able to help us re-open certain corridors, if not entire airspaces," said Bisignani. Most affected carriers, including Emirates, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM among others, are pressing the European governments to relax the rule of a complete shutdown.
"We, along with the heads of other European carriers, are possibly seeking some relaxation in terms of the shutdown of airspace," Emirates airlines President Tim Clark told Emirates Business on Sunday.
STATUS QUO OF CARRIERS
It continued to be a cloudy affair for the UAE carriers yesterday, as the ash from Iceland's volcano grounded most flights departing for Europe.
The Sharjah-based budget carrier Air Arabia was the latest to release a statement, with CEO Adel Ali saying: "There have been a few disruptions but we haven't been majorly affected. We are only impacted in Kiev and of course our Morocco hub, where flights have been suspended. The real cost [due to ash clouds] will only be known in a few months."
Air Arabia had no more than 500 passengers stranded by the ash-related groundings, he said.
Meanwhile, the Dubai-based Emirates and national carrier Etihad Airways reinstated several flights departing for Europe, subject to changes. Emirates announced that 20 per cent of its fleet remained grounded, and the airline was not accepting passengers for travel to any European destinations besides Moscow, Athens, Larnaca, Malta and Istanbul until April 21.
To date, more than 250 Emirates' flights have been cancelled, with more than 80,000 passengers being impacted, the carrier said in a statement.
Etihad has already reinstated services to Milan, after suspending services to the UK, the Russian Federation and European services.
Etihad CEO James Hogan said: "We are progressively opening services to our guests, as we are permitted by air safety authorities. We are waiting to reinstate flights to Germany, France and Switzerland."
MIXED RESULTS FOR PLANES IN THE AIR
Desperate to take to the skies once again and recoup heavy losses, many European carriers launched test flights to assess the impact of the cloud of volcanic ash.
Air France flew an Airbus A320 between Paris and Toulouse, without passengers, and said afterwards that conditions had been normal. Germany's Lufthansa and Dutch carrier KLM also carried out test flights without passengers and reported no untoward incidents.
British Airways also completed a similar flight on Sunday. While the Brussels-based group forecasts as much as half of Europe's airspace may be 'risk free' by today, UK Transport Minister Andrew Adonis said that flights across northern Europe were not safe.
Meanwhile, a senior US official warned of a potentially serious damage to military jets from volcanic ash after a build-up of glass was found in the engine of a Nato fighter plane in Europe. But Nato Chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen denied any knowledge of the incident and insisted the ash was not disrupting Nato's operations.
AIRLINES STICKING TO THE BAN
While Italy, Sweden and Norway are expecting to lift the ban completely by today, Germany's airports may continue to keep their airspace closed.
Similarly, France's civil aviation authority banned flying in the previously unaffected south of the country yesterday. French airspace and all airports in the country will remain closed until at least, partially, today, subject to change.
Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost carrier, cancelled all flights to and from northern Europe until at least mid-Wednesday. Meanwhile, airspace across the UK remained closed until further notice.
Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region cancelled most Europe-bound flights, with Qantas Airways saying it will not fly to European destinations before April 20 and could not confirm when service on those routes will resume.
Carriers including Air China, Japan Airlines, Thai Airways International, Korean Air Lines and Cathay Pacific Airways shut down services to Europe, while Singapore's Changi Airport reported cancellation of 34 arrivals and departures, including Singapore Airlines flights to nine European destinations.
The US Air Transport Association said that 282 of 337, or 84 per cent, of the day's non-stop flights between the US and Europe were cancelled.
Delta Air Lines, the world's largest carrier, scrapped 97 flights yesterday to and from Europe, spokesman Anthony Black said.
Another 49 flights have been grounded for today. American Airlines has cancelled 30 flights to Europe so far. American is operating flights to and from Spain and Italy.
Haraldur Eiriksson, a meteorologist in Iceland, predicted little changes in the ash pattern in until April 23.
EU AID
The European Union is prepared to authorise exceptional financial aid to airlines that have been hit by the closure of air space in most of Europe caused by the volcanic ash cloud, the EU Commission said yesterday. It is in response to European carriers seeking state aid as the closure of the region's airspace following the volcanic eruption in Iceland costs millions of dollars a day in lost revenue.
THE UPDATE
The latest available information on some airports is as follows:
- Austria: Airports open as of 0400GMT on Monday.
- Belgium: Air space closed until Monday 1800 GMT. Airlines have been allowed to bring planes back to Belgium without passengers or freight.
- Britain: Airspace closed all Monday. British Airways cancels all Monday flights.
- Denmark: Airspace open for flights above 10,800 metres. Airspace below this height closed for now.
- France: Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse and several other southwest airports will remain open. Airports north of Nice-Bordeaux line remain closed Monday morning.
- Germany: Airports shut until further notice.
- Ireland: Airspace closed. Ryanair cancelled all flights to and from northern Europe until at least mid-Wednesday. Aer Lingus cancelled all flights yesterday.
- Italy: Northern airspace up to 6,700 metres (22,000 feet) re-closed until at least 0600 GMT Tuesday.
- Netherlands: Airspace shut until at least for now.
- Russia: All airports open. Aeroflot is flying to the United States via the North Pole.
- Spain: 17 airports open.