Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland, Eyjafjallajokull

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Charlie Roy
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by Charlie Roy »

I see a Ryanair flight from Malaga to Charleroi was forced to divert to Bordeaux. That's a long coach trip!
And when Ryanair finally get the all-clear to fly from Charleroi again they'll first have to somehow retrieve that aircraft before they can use it to resume the schedule. This is just one small example of the disruption being suffered by airlines and passengers. And it seems set to continue for the next couple of days at least :(

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euroflyer
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by euroflyer »

small correction:

German airspace is NOT (yet) closed (completely). Eurocontrol said earlier today (around noon) they would expect it to be closed. However, the German 'Flugsicherung' and the German governemt announced shortly afterwards that it was not the job and competence of Eurocontrol to decide about any closure. This can only be done by national governments and authorities. Until early evening of today (Thursday) German airspace was 'business as usual' more or less. I had a flight at 17h25 from TXL to FRA and it was perfectly on time. However, as the ash cloud seems to move into Germany now slowly, later this evening first Hamburg has been closed (at around 19h00) and now TXL and SXF (Berlin) have both been closed as well (after having been affected by snow and other 'disasters' this last half year quite heavily, for once I was lucky ;) ). Most of the north German airspace seems now to be closed as well. FRA however is still open at this time (I can hear the planes approaching it clearly above my house just as I write these lines ;) ). The forecast here is that FRA MIGHT be affected tomorrow, but unclear so far. Depends on how the winds will develop further. MUC and southern Germany will very likely stay unaffected. So many possibilities for LH to shift traffic to its more southern hub.
BrightCedars wrote:Too bad we're flying LH back from BEY to BRU via FRA on Sat.
Even if the FRA-BRU leg will still be affected by than OR maybe FRA might be affected. I am quite sure LH will find a way to bring you at least to MUC, or maybe even to FRA. Than you can continue by train (FRA-BRU is between 3 and 3.5 hrs by train; MUC to BRU is probably more like 5.5 to 6 hrs by train, but still possible).
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by euroflyer »

update

today the situation seems to be even worse than yesterday. Over night (from Thursday to Friday) the ash moved further on into north west Germany. One after the other BRE, HAM, TXL, SXF, DUS, FMO, CGN had to be closed. Since 8am this morning local time FRA is now closed as well.

However, forecasts at the moment still suggest southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland can remain open. But all depends on the winds.
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luchtzak
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by luchtzak »

Mother nature struck aviation very hard ! I can't remember something like this happened in the past ! :o

Bralo20
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by Bralo20 »

NATS has just released a statement:

UK Airspace will remain CLOSED until: 17APR2010 0100GMT

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sn26567
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by sn26567 »

Ironically, Reykjavik in Iceland remains open. The wind blows in the opposite direction, from the vulcano straight away from Iceland.
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tolipanebas
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by tolipanebas »

luchtzak wrote:Mother nature struck aviation very hard ! I can't remember something like this happened in the past ! :o
Indeed she did.

After the harshest winter in decades disrupted normal flight ops all throughout the winter, it seems we'll now be faced with repeated massive disruptions throughout the summer from a volcano in Iceland... :roll:

If farmers are faced with less than ideal weather conditions, they immediately cry for help from the government... maybe it is time for the Association of Belgian Airlines to give Yves Leterme a call and aks him to take his checkbook out, now that this vital part of our economy is seriously struck by series of truely EXTREME weather phenomenons, never seen before on this scale.

Or does our government only help out if greedy bankers mess it up themselves, but not if honnest companies are faced with nature's unpredictable play?

Airlines are employing tens of thousands of people in Belgium alone and without them, our economy -which is heavily depending on it as a land of transit- almost comes to a stop (I bet the halting of flights will have measurable consequences on the GDP of the eurozone this quarter), so let him actually do something rather than sex up his pisspoor image in Tokyo or Washington, while in the mean time hiding behind Dehaene (BHV) or just pretending to be living under a rock when things are going bad at home...

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euroflyer
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by euroflyer »

German 'Flugsicherung' (DFS) just published this:

"Aschewolke beeinträchtigt Flugverkehr
Keine Starts und Landungen an 13 internationalen Flughäfen
16.4.2010.- Die Aschewolke, die nach dem Vulkanausbrach auf Island über Deutschland hinweg zieht, sorgt für massive Behinderungen im Luftverkehr über Deutschland. An insgesamt 13 internationalen Flughäfen finden derzeit (Stand: 9.00) keine Starts und Landungen statt.
Betroffen sind die Flughäfen Hamburg, Bremen, Hannover, Münster/Osnabrück, Düsseldorf, Köln/Bonn, Frankfurt, Saarbrücken, Berlin-Tegel, Berlin-Schönefeld, Leipzig, Erfurt und Dresden. Das bedeutet, dass die DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH auf Anweisung des Bundesverkehrsministeriums die Zahl der Flüge bis auf weiteres auf null steuert. Die Entscheidung fällt aufgrund der Wetterlage. Dabei steht die DFS in enger Kooperation mit dem Deutschen Wetterdienst.
Auch an den Regionalflughäfen in den betroffenen Regionen findet derzeit kein Verkehr statt. Die Flughäfen im Süden Deutschlands können noch angeflogen werden. Allerdings bewegt sich die Aschewolke in südlicher Richtung, so dass auch an Flughäfen wie Stuttgart oder München im Laufe des Tages mit Beeinträchtigungen zu rechnen ist."

Summary ion English: International Airports in HAM, BRE, HAJ, FMO, DUS, CGN, SCN, FRA, TXL, SXF, ERF, LEJ, DRS are closed (as of 9am this morning). All regional airports in this area are closed as well. Following an order from the Federal transport ministry flights in this area will not be allowed anymore by DFS. Southern Germany remains "open" so far. However, the ash is moving further south at the moment. Therefore it seems very likely at the moment that the international airports STR and MUC will be affected later today as well.


Separatly I just read Austria has announced closures might be necessary from this afternoon in their airspace as well.

Looks like this could continue for all weekend ... (or even longer :o )
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euroflyer
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by euroflyer »

Just a thought: On Sunday the funeral for the Polish President is due to take place in Krakow ... Heads of state from all over the world are due to fly in for this event (Obama is one example, the German chancellor who is in California at the moment I think another one and I guess from Belgian the King (?) and/or Yves Leterme might want to come as well). But as it looks right now, nobody will be able to fly in?
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sn26567
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by sn26567 »

More flights cancelled due to volcanic ash (Update as of 9:00 CEST from SWISS)

As more airports have been closed, flights to and from the following countries are currently affected and cancelled: Belgium / Denmark / Estonia / Finland / Northern Part Of France / North And Middle Part Of Germany / Netherlands / Luxemburg / Norway / Poland / Sweden / UK
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TCAS_climb
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by TCAS_climb »

tolipanebas wrote:Or does our government only help out if greedy bankers mess it up themselves, but not if honnest companies are faced with nature's unpredictable play?
The irony being of course that if we didn't save the bankers the global economy would have sunk even deeper. Instead of losing 20-30% revenue the airlines would have lost perhaps the double. We're all in the same boat, and there's only boat unfortunately (although you can't imagine how excited I would be to start the first airline on Mars, although I'm quite concerned by the size of the volcanos and runway length).

Some disasters can be covered by insurance, to some extent, but the odds and the premiums are so awkward that very few managers venture into that direction.

On the other hand, I'm sure the hotel industry doesn't mind, as well as the car rentals, railways, bus companies, caterers, etc... and countless airport residents! :mrgreen:

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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by sn26567 »

airazurxtror wrote:Once more :

Due to the large number of visitors, only part of brusselsairport.be is accessible for the moment.
We apologise for any inconveni


when you most need it ...
Same at Charleroi:

Temporary limited access to www.charleroi-airport.com

Due to large numbers of visitors, only a part of www.charleroi-airport.com is accessible for the moment.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by TCAS_climb »

Hey, there's even Eurocontrol on Twitter... http://twitter.com/eurocontrol

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Comet
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by Comet »

I feel sorry for those who are stranded away from home, eventually their money could run out and with insurance companies not making payouts it could be very bad for them. I have heard that a couple of flights left GLA this morning, but I didn't get the full details because it was the end of the news report. Maybe if the cloud is moving south we might possibly see some flights resuming at GLA and (maybe) PIK and possibly the airports in the west of Scotland and maybe Ireland.
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Charlie Roy
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by Charlie Roy »

Maybe if the cloud is moving south we might possibly see some flights resuming at GLA and (maybe) PIK and possibly the airports in the west of Scotland and maybe Ireland.
Irish airspace is already open.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0416/travel.html
But mainly there will only be flights to the USA and Southern Europe (as well as domestic flights).
Also flights between Northern Ireland and Scotland will be permitted later on.

andreas
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by andreas »

From http://www.nats.co.uk

Statement on Icelandic volcanic eruption: Friday April 16, 0830

The cloud of volcanic ash continues to cover much of the UK and the eruption in Iceland continues. Following a review of the latest Met Office information, NATS advises that restrictions preventing flights in English controlled airspace will remain in place until 0100 (UK time) tomorrow, Saturday 17 April, at the earliest.

Flights in Northern Ireland and the Western Isles of Scotland to and from Glasgow and Prestwick will continue to be allowed until 1900 (UK time) subject to individual co-ordination. North Atlantic traffic to and from Glasgow, Prestwick and Belfast may also be allowed in this period.

From 1900 (UK time), forecasts indicate that Scottish airspace may be able to accept domestic flights within Scotland and Northern/Southern Ireland, and North Atlantic flights to/from airports in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

We will review further Met Office information and at 1430 (UK time) we will advise further arrangements. In general, the situation is dynamic and subject to change.

We continue to work closely with airports, airlines, and the rest of Europe to understand and mitigate the implications of the volcanic eruption.


This seems to confirm that the ash cloud is starting to pass Scotland and Ireland allowing resumption of flights.

andreas
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by andreas »

Source: live interview VRT with Etienne Schouppe

Belgian airspace closed until 1000LT
Next evaluation: 0600 LT

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tolipanebas
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by tolipanebas »

To clarify the above:

Belgian FIR will remain closed for all IFR traffic till at least SATURDAY 0800Z (so 1000 local).

Similarly, the Dutch FIR will remain closed till Saturday 0400Z (being 0600 local).

Filip146
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by Filip146 »

http://met.no/?module=Articles;action=A ... ow;ID=2873

Don't know if this link was posted before....but looking at that... :o

regi
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Re: Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland

Post by regi »

forces of nature...it makes us humble again.

For once we cannot blame somebody. The cloud looks the same as with the Tsernobyl disaster.

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