Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland, Eyjafjallajokull

[grnkg]

Belgian airspace now closed until Tuesday 0800 CET.

Possible re-opening for landing as of Tuesday 0800 CET.

Possible re-opening for landing and take-off at 1400 CET.

Kind regards,
GR.

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

I think Wevelgem is a good start !
Get real !

After a soccer team, these actions are a little bit complicater I'm afraid.
A basic of ground handling,free space ,kerosine should be available..
Runawway length?
So forget Wevelgem,ANR ..

Just LGG,CRL,OST maybe..

Maybe CRL can get jealous to Wevelgem,second airport !

Think in this case there's not that much free space necessary due to all carriers will fly returns with their
normal fleet.

Maybe Mr.Diaper can access BRU for 24h/24h during the first days of free aerospace of europe.
Hope things run fast now in a good way ( but seriously scientific calculated ).

Cheering everything is okay with a few testflights (tolipane) again and again don't do if
there just landed an F16 with glass in the jet engine.
Bad luck ! (some people just hear what they wanted to hear ).
Hope there's quick a positive change and results of an examination of standards.
In this case some results will have positive and negative advisises otherwise the examination can't be
serious.
ALL parts of the cloud must have data.

But again people will always shout this is just some jerking of scientifics,
but they forget hat these guys made it just possible to fly their and (OUR) beloved planes .
( we're all on the same side at the end )

And yes I support credits for help for SN , if the farmers get some SN could get also some.
But in both cases they don't earn it IMO. ( prefer SN above the farmers )

Hope to fly soon,
CX-B

Note
A pilot can be the arbiter to fly or not once airborne but until that I and with me a lot others
don't agree that they will/should have the final word.
Since when has pilots all the necessary qualifications in science(maths-geo-technics) to deal
with such a difficult and new material ?
Pilots must be very special persons.
Okay,blame me for being jealous now not being a pilot but just an enthousiast ,I know you will,
I admit I am but not with these conclusion.

[Propwash]

Maybe Mr.Diaper can access BRU for 24h/24h during the first days of free aerospace of europe.

Pls don't hit/slam Mr. Diaper King to much and don't dig in Mr. Diaper King ... history.

Otherwise, we will get in trouble with B Nanny Care (Kind & Gezin).

[Propwash]

From 20.00LMT this afternoon the first 'passenger' flights leave Schiphol

Destinations: Dubai, New York and Shanghai.

Source

[jan_olieslagers]

So forget Wevelgem,ANR ..

Why? ANR/EBAW has handled diversions from Zaventem before, and I seem to remember holiday chartered B737's at Wevelgem. Not a commercial success, but technically no problemo! Actually I'd not be surprised if EBKT WAS open today, there was some flying at some other non-controlled aerodromes this afternoon.

Pilots must be very special persons.

They are. They take very elaborate training. One of the points they learn is to get advice from specialists when in doubt.

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

One of the points they learn is to get advice from specialists when in doubt.

Some of them missed this point obviously these days !
But .. respect.. if it was my job I might(/was probably) be the same..
but since not I'll didn't have some haze in my eyes.


About Wevelgem,ANR,..
let the regional airports be regional they'll have their job,
think it isn't accurate to have these equipped with material and handling men for such a short period..
If 24/24h BRU will do !

CX-B

[LAGPanoramic]

Hi,

Cheering everything is okay with a few testflights (tolipane) again and again don't do if
there just landed an F16 with glass in the jet engine.
Bad luck ! (some people just hear what they wanted to hear ).
Hope there's quick a positive change and results of an examination of standards.
In this case some results will have positive and negative advisises otherwise the examination can't be
serious.
ALL parts of the cloud must have data.

But again people will always shout this is just some jerking of scientifics,
but they forget hat these guys made it just possible to fly their and (OUR) beloved planes .
( we're all on the same side at the end )

And yes I support credits for help for SN , if the farmers get some SN could get also some.
But in both cases they don't earn it IMO. ( prefer SN above the farmers )

Hope to fly soon,
CX-B

Note
A pilot can be the arbiter to fly or not once airborne but until that I and with me a lot others
don't agree that they will/should have the final word.
Since when has pilots all the necessary qualifications in science(maths-geo-technics) to deal
with such a difficult and new material ?
Pilots must be very special persons.
Okay,blame me for being jealous now not being a pilot but just an enthousiast ,I know you will,
I admit I am but not with these conclusion.

I fully agree with you!

Except for the credits. In my opinion, nor for airlines, nor for farmers, nor for car plants! Tax payer's money could be way better spent in improving education, justice, youth works etc...

[cnc]

A thought: it might be a smart idea to employ the smaller less busy airports such as Ostend, Wevelgem and Antwerp to help digest the incoming traffic, giving the bigger airports breathing space to resume regular schedules as good as possible, once bans are eased or lifted. Busses can be arranged, so can trains if need be.

companies mist a lot of revenue and now you would take away a bit more of that from companies at the big airport to give the regional airports and their companies extra flights
besides unless a lot of extra planes get chartered BRU shouldn't have much problems

[Shuttie]

Around 20:30 I heard a sound I had not heard for several days.. yes a plane !
Anybody have a clue about the large aircraft (B767 ?) that I think took off around 20.30 from Brussels ?

[NCB]

Except for the credits. In my opinion, nor for airlines, nor for farmers, nor for car plants! Tax payer's money could be way better spent in improving education, justice, youth works etc...

Airlines don't make much money at all and they do provide alot of jobs, which pays for taxes.
In the past few days, airlines lost alot of very important revenue from one of the busiest and best yielding periods of the year, revenue they needed badly to cover the very hard winter they are leaving behind.

Airlines and its passengers have been the victims of inaccurate decision-making and as it works in any respectable legal system, deserve to be compensated accordingly for expenses incurred.

[Skystef]

Around 20:30 I heard a sound I had not heard for several days.. yes a plane !
Anybody have a clue about the large aircraft (B767 ?) that I think took off around 20.30 from Brussels ?

Was PH-AHY. Besides it, bit earlier also OO-JAQ & S5-AAA made some noise on their ferry departures.

[Charlie Roy]

Ash cloud strengthening again. Source: http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0419/travelupdates.html

22.15 British air traffic control Nats has thrown doubt over the reopening of UK airspace tomorrow. It said tonight in a statement: 'The volcano eruption in Iceland has strengthened and a new ash cloud is spreading south and east towards the UK.

'Latest information from the Met Office shows that the situation is worsening in some areas.

'Based on this information, the situation for Northern Irish airports for the morning is uncertain, due to the new ash cloud.

'The latest information shows that Scottish airports should be available from 7am and more airspace over England may become available from 1pm, although not as far south as the main London airports.'

[jan_olieslagers]

One of the points they learn is to get advice from specialists when in doubt.

Some of them missed this point obviously these days

I beg your pardon? What pilot(s) made which wrong decision(s) for not having asked whose advice?

[Propwash]

I beg your pardon? What pilot(s) made which wrong decision(s) for not having asked whose advice?

As far as I now, NO pilot made a wrong go or no-go decission

Have the EU and local Governments learned a lesson? NO they didn"t!
They will 'always' be overdominant and NOT going back to their core business (providing data only to the Aviation industry/Pilot In Command).

The Aviation Industry (Pilot In Command) with exception of Air Kamikazie, is perfectly capable of making their own go or no-go decission.

See (full text) this topic #13

[Desert Rat]

Someone was mentioning a 340-600 out of tLS yesterday...this is the reason.

Airbus has taken advantage of scheduled development test flights to assess the impact on the aircraft and its flight systems within the volcanic ash on aircraft over Europe. Airbus A380 MSN 4, powered with four EA engines, and A340-600 MSN 360, fitted with Rolls Royce engines, took off at 14.25 and 14.50 (French time) respectively from Toulouse airport. During the flights, Airbus’ experimental flight test crew will observe aircraft and engine behaviours in the ash cloud and a thorough post flight aircraft and engine inspection will be performed after landing.

The A380 is planned to fly within French airspace and the A340-600 in French and German airspace as per normal procedures. Airbus will share the findings from these flights with the relevant airworthiness authorities and engine manufacturers as soon as possible.

Tom Enders, President and CEO of Airbus said: “We are fully committed to work in close coordination with the aeronautical community and provide all technical assistance we can. Obviously, the entire industry wants to find a solution as soon as possible and see aircraft flying again in the European skies.”

Airbus is committed to support authorities evaluating the safe conditions to fly by offering them full technical assistance.

[regi]

Except for the credits. In my opinion, nor for airlines, nor for farmers, nor for car plants! Tax payer's money could be way better spent in improving education, justice, youth works etc...

Airlines don't make much money at all and they do provide alot of jobs, which pays for taxes.
In the past few days, airlines lost alot of very important revenue from one of the busiest and best yielding periods of the year, revenue they needed badly to cover the very hard winter they are leaving behind.

Airlines and its passengers have been the victims of inaccurate decision-making and as it works in any respectable legal system, deserve to be compensated accordingly for expenses incurred.

It depends how you look at it NCB. There was a lot of revenue because there was alot of traffic around Easter holiday. The money for all those tickets has been paid in advance and is already in the pocket.
But because this volcano decided to erupt during Easter it were the same lot of flights that got cancelled. Many costs land on the passengers, not on the airlines because they point to the fact it is a disaster. Even a travel insurance doesn't cover the extra costs.
Bus companies are doing great business now. So do hotels. Some do close down between easter and Summer . They get now an extra week of revenue.
But I do agree that it is certainly not a money maker for the airlines.

[sn26567]

It is not over yet.

British Airways is cancelling all short-haul flights within Europe due to renewed volcanic ash alert.

Poland has closed its airspace again this Tuesday morning.

JetairFly will not take off from Brussels this Tuesday. In fact many of their planes have been carrying stranded passengers to Spain and Southern Italy from where they were bussed back to Belgium.

[regi]

good days for the ferries - if they don't strike. That is why I don't mention the railways

The large trade fairs in Hannover (Hannover Messe ) and Munich ( Bauma) this week are really suffering. Both websites have a section with advice about the aviation problem. Exhibitors who have to come by airplane can not man their booths. And visitors who come on 1 day ticktes are cancelling - if possible.
I fear it will be a full car park.

[sn26567]

Brussels Airlines might ask the Ministry of Defence for assistance. The Belgian Air Force A330 could be sent to Africa of other destinations to help repatriate stranded Belgian passengers.

Brussels Airlines is also asking for capacity on foreign airlines to bring back some its passengers to Brussels.

Brussels Airlines hopes that all its passengers stranded abroad will be back in Brussels within 2 or 3 days.

[tolipanebas]

There was a lot of revenue because there was alot of traffic around Easter holiday. The money for all those tickets has been paid in advance and is already in the pocket

And you think nobody is going to ask for a refund then, or what?

The thing is some bureaucrats decided to halt aviation during one of the bussiest moments of the season based on ASSUMPTIONS alone, yet forcing airlines to cancel and refund millions of tickets for several days in a row, whereas all of their costs (other than the operational ones like fuel) will have to be booked as usual.

Let's do a rough estimation of how the ballance sheet will look like, shall we?

Fuel is known to be about 1/3 of the cost of an airline, so you could say airlines 'saved' 1/3 on their daily working costs throughout the grounding as they weren't flying....

On the other hand, they saw 100% of their revenues evaporate over those days.

Now, you can argue this isn't actually completely lost, but rather just shifted to later dates, but:

Knowing we're right at the end of a holiday period, more than half of the people on long haul routes were actually tourists who are not going to reschedule their flights to a later date, but rather cancel them in full, meaning airlines have lost some 50% of their leisure-generated revenue permanently.

Also, since the grounding was so long (5 days), many business travellers on short haul routes have not rescheduled their trip either, but have rather simply decided to roll their business over to another later trip of theirs, meaning again, the airlines will permanently loose out on much of the revenues from tickets of business-oriented pax.

In short, a realistic estimation shows the overall revenue from around 3 out of 4 tickets voided over this period is permanently lost!

Add the huge extra costs airlines have had to make (hotel accomodation, meals, extra staff to cope with the mess) and you immediately see that the ballance is EXTREMELY unfavourable for the airlines indeed.