European flights back to normal, aftermath assessed

BRUSSELS: Flights in Europe returned to normal Thursday, one week after an Icelandic volcano eruption caused the continent to almost completely shut down its airspace.

But some parts in Scandinavia, including Iceland, were closed due to high levels of ash cloud, which continues to spew out of the Eyjafjjoell volcano.

The airline industry, facing high costs of passenger refunds, continues to question the Government’s decision of the shut-down, while observers have begun to analyse the aftermath of this historic air traffic chaos.

All the continent’s major air centres were running at close to full capacity Thursday, with some airlines even adding more flights in a rush to clear up the backlog of passengers.

The European air safety coordination body Eurocontrol hoped “almost 100 percent” of scheduled flights would take off or land on Thursday.

“At the current time, almost all European airspace is available, with a few exceptions in northern Scotland and western Sweden,” Eurocontrol said in a statement.

“Today Eurocontrol hopes that traffic will be at normal levels of between 28,000 and 29,000 flights,” it said.

The airspace in southern Finland, southern Norway, northern Scotland and western Sweden had to be closed again Thursday, as a change in the wind direction brought volcanic ash from Iceland back into Scandinavian skies.

In a twist of fate, Iceland, which had been able to keep its airports open while other European countries had suspended their flights since last Thursday, is now closing its airspace for the first time because the wind has started to blow ash, east towards the capital and its airport.

More than 100,000 flights have been cancelled since April 14 when European countries enforced the shutdown following the Icelandic volcanic eruption, stranding millions of passengers. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) put the overall cost of the airline industry at 1.7 billion U.S. dollars.

Lost trade

World Bank President Robert Zoellick put the cost of the air travel for African countries alone at 65 million dollars in lost trade.

The European Commission has stressed that all passengers need to be reimbursed for the costs they incurred during the travel chaos, including tickets as well as accommodation and food expenses, after Ireland’s lost-cost carrier Ryanair said it would only pay out the cost of cancelled flights.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary later agreed to pay the full cost for the passengers, but vowed to continue efforts to change “absurd” EU legislation so reimbursements were “limited to the ticket price paid in the same way they are for train, coach and ferry operators”.

Airlines have questioned and slammed the closures, saying the decision was over-reacting and based on unscientific data.

Observers have also feared the travel chaos may cause a profound psychological impact on passengers, making them think twice before choosing the plane.

But travel experts have ruled out any long-lasting impact on the air industry, predicting a quick rebound in the number of passengers.

The Eyjafjoell volcano was spewing far less ash on Thursday and the plume of smoke was low. Scientists are also closely observing the neighbouring Katla volcano, which is also likely to erupt.

Meanwhile, EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas was quoted by the BBC as saying that “Europe’s airspace is getting back to normal operating capacity.”Kallas called for a single European air traffic regulator to better handle similar crises down the road.

European air traffic agency Eurocontrol said it expected 29,000 flights Friday, nearly 2,000 more than the day before. Only airports in northern Scotland were still affected.

Drifting ash from an erupting Icelandic volcano led to a near-complete shutdown of European air travel for almost a week.

The chaos sparked tensions between regulators and airlines, which say they lost more than $1.7 billion in revenues.

The U.S. State Department over the past days assisted U.S. travellers stuck in Europe with housing and healthcare needs, while Britain dispatched warships to haul stranded travellers home.

- Xinhua and UPI