Volcanic ash: Europe flights grounded for third day

Source: BBC

Millions of air travellers are stranded as thousands of flights are being cancelled for a third day.

The disruption from the spread of ash would continue into Sunday, European aviation agency Eurocontrol said.

Airlines are losing some £130m ($200m) a day in an unprecedented shutdown of commercial air travel.

"Forecasts suggest that the cloud of volcanic ash will persist and that the impact will continue for at least the next 24 hours," a statement from Eurocontrol said at around 0830 GMT.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8626505.stm

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Airspace is now closed in Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the UK. Italy is open but Rome and Milan are closed. This is going to take at least a week for airlines to sort out all the out of position planes and stuck flyers. And I'm flying right into the middle of it on Thursday...

Unlike North American travelers, who would be SOL if Rainier, Mount Lassen, or the nasty possibility near Mammoth Lake erupted, stranded Europeans withing 1000 miles or so of their destinations could take passenger trains to their destinations.

We don't have such an option. Amtrak's network is skeletal at best, and the cross-country rail network has shrunken even further since Amtrak was founded in 1971. Worse, Amtrak has retired many of its passenger rail cars and hasn't been able to build up the fleet on the starvation diets it endured under Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II.

And east-west bus services are a joke. They're getting to be as sketchy as passenger rail was by 1960.

If a North American volcano or two erupts, cross-country air travelers are likely to be out of luck and stuck. After all, this is "Ammurica" and rugged individualists and anti-gummint patriots don't believe in "socialistic" and "un-Ammurican" disaster planning or preparations.

Likely no more than thought, but all kinds of people are rediscovering rail transit in Europe.

I don't remember air travel being this disrupted.

There are scattered references to all major airports in the NW having been shut from days to weeks after, as well as references to flights into the ash zone having been suspended for the duration.

Same thing after Mt Pinatubo in the Phillipines and the Indonesian eruptions. At Boeing's website they mention 90 aircraft damaged by flying into airborne ash since 1980, so maybe we just understand the dangers a lot better now and are less willing to take risks. Since the main effect of flying into ash is often multiple simultaneous engine flameouts, I'm cool with that.

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_09/volcanic_story.html

My gf just texted me from St Pancras Eurostar Terminal in London. She said "it looks like the end of the world here."

I remember a story about some people who landed at Minot ND instead of JFK on 9/11, they pooled together to buy a cheap used car to drive back. They must have not thought about taking the Empire Builder to Chicago and then other Amtrack routes from there.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle09.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/April/international_April921.xml§ion=international


http://genevalunch.com/blog/2010/04/16/swiss-air-travel-update-17-april-update-4/

Usually their strikes only last a day or two -- 11 days is pretty long for la greve.

11 days is pretty long for them to strike. I am amused by the "strike every wednesday" strikes that have happened in the past. Inconvenience people, but still let them get around. I was in a transportation strike there a couple yrs ago. I was naive enough to buy a ticket at the machine while the locals just watched me and got on the train without paying. Worst part was Roissybus struck in solidarity and it was a mess getting to cdg.

to get to one's destination. You used to be able to rent a car like at Hertz in one city and drop it off in another city. I don't know if this still applies, but hopefully car rental companies will adapt if there is a crisis because you are right, our rail and bus services are jokes today.

rent in one place, drop off in another. It costs more, though.

I ended up having to spend a week in Seattle -- not that I'm complaining. At least it's a great city.

Starting to look like my stay down here in West Africa is going to be extended whether I like it or not.