Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland, Eyjafjallajokull

[sn26567]

You could add to this that many business travellers will have discovered the advantages of tele- and video-conferences during the last five or six days and will be lost forever for the aviation business.

[sn26567]

First passenger plane has just landed in Brussels: a Corendon B737 from Antalya.

[tolipanebas]

You could add to this that many business travellers will have discovered the advantages of tele- and video-conferences during the last five or six days and will be lost forever for the aviation business.

Actually, I am fairly confident that will NOT happen anytime soon.

Quite on the contrary even: some people who used to bitch about how expensive airline travel is on short haul for business pax (who want full flexibility and nicely timed flights, but don't want to pay the price for this) have now suddenly experienced first hand what a nice thing it is really, as they have had no choice but to make use of 'convenient' alternatives long promoted by some:

train from Birmingham to London
taxi from railway station to car rental parking
drive to Folkstone
get with car on one of the cartrains through the eurotunnel
drive to Brussels
get flamed for dropping off a UK car in Belgium and be told to expect a serious penalty fee for this!

total travel time: 13 hours

costs: 4 times that of a ticket with SN

Nope, I don't think I'll be hearing them complain anytime soon again.

[Bralo20]

Belgian Air Force to the rescue

The Belgian Air Force will operate 2 flights from Brussels to Kinshasa (FIH) to evacuate Belgians stuck in the country. There is a chance that also the 3th Airbus (backup) will be used as well.

Scheduled to operate:

A330-300 - CS-TMT
A310-200 - CA-01

In consideration to operate also if necessary:

A340-300 - CS-TQM (BAF backup plane)

[luchtzak]

Flight to Kinshasa and Yaounde has departed! www.brusselsairport.be

[Acid-drop]

There is a lot of lufthansa flights all over ... I wonder why the others are waiting so much.
It's always interesting to fallow what's happening here : http://www.flightradar24.com/

[TUB023]

there is NO new ash cloud on the way.
let's hope everything get's back to it's normal going soon.

[Stij]

Belgian Air Force to the rescue

The Belgian Air Force will operate 2 flights from Brussels to Kinshasa (FIH) to evacuate Belgians stuck in the country. There is a chance that also the 3th Airbus (backup) will be used as well.

Scheduled to operate:

A330-300 - CS-TMT
A310-200 - CA-01

In consideration to operate also if necessary:

A340-300 - CS-TQM (BAF backup plane)

Do I get miles on "Air De Crem"?

Cheers,

Stij (flying to Berlin tonight, I hope I get back in two days...)

[Homo Aeroportus]

... I hope I get back in two days...)

Don't be so negative Stij, driving back from Belin will take less than 2 days !


Sorry, too tempting.

Wish you have a safe and timely flight.

Cheers.

[Bralo20]

Do I get miles on "Air De Crem"?

Sure you can...

You'l earn mileage in the Crembo Mileage Extra program within the SkyStarOne Alliance

You can save for your own genuine sparepart from one of the Airbusses!

[regi]

Flight to Kinshasa and Yaounde has departed! http://www.brusselsairport.be

wonder when they wil be back

[sn26567]

Still no JetairFly departures from Brussels today (one departure from Charleroi by Jet4you to Casablanca). However 2,975 Jetair travelers are coming back to Brussels on board of 16 flights coming from Tenerife, Palma de Mallorca, Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt. One thousand travelers are coming back by coach from the North of Spain.

Jetair does not know yet when they will resume departures. They advise travelers not to come to Brussels airport before they receive a confirmation of their flight.

On the other hand Thomas Cook has decided not to fly to/from Brussels today. Their passengers are transported by other means:routes.

[sn26567]

Flight to Kinshasa and Yaounde has departed...

... at 11:33. Brussels Airlines hopes that several flights from Africa will be able to come back tonight.

Flights to the UK and Italy, where only local traffic is currently allowed, are impossible!

[Acid-drop]

Flights above UK is possible though ... not very logic.
ICL931 flight with SA 742 just left LGG a few minutes ago and is flying now above London ...
It's fallowing the exact same path than a LH flight 5 min ahead

[sn26567]

Ryanair update 20 April 15:00 GMT

(A) Southbound flights from Spain, Southern Italy, Malta and Morocco continue as normal.

(B) Southbound fights from South of France (Marseille) to resume Wednesday 21st April.

(C) Extra flights from Madrid to Canary Islands scheduled for Wed 21st April and Thursday 22nd April to move passengers from Canaries to Mainland.

(D) Flights cancellations in Northern Europe extended from 1300hrs Wed 21st April to 1300hrs Thur 22nd April.

(E) Flights between Ireland and UK cancelled until 1300hrs Fri 23rd April to allow for extra flights from Ireland to Continental Europe and from UK to Continental Europe on Thursday 22nd April.

(F) Revised handling procedures notified to all airports to eliminate a backlog of passengers as soon as normal flight schedules resume.

Ryanair today (Tue 20th April) at 1500hrs confirmed that based on current meteorological forecasts and the continuing emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere over Iceland, it continues to operate Southbound flights from Spain, Southern Italy, Malta and Morocco as scheduled. From tomorrow Wed 21st April, Ryanair expects to resume Southbound flights from its Marseille base in the South of France as well. Passengers holding reservations on these flights at these airports, should continue to present themselves at these airports as normal.

Ryanair has today (20 Apr) extended its cancellation of its Northern European flights (UK, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, Poland, Baltic States and North Italy) from 1300hrs on Wed 21st April to 1300hrs on Thurs 22nd April. In addition, Ryanair has decided to cancel all of its flights between Ireland and the UK until 1300hrs on Friday 23rd April in order to use these UK and Irish based aircraft to operate extra flights from the UK to Continental Europe; and from Ireland to Continental Europe from 1300hrs on Thurs 22nd April to clear any backlog of disrupted passengers travelling between Continental Europe, the UK and Ireland.

Ryanair is announcing these decisions in order to give intending passengers as much notice as possible of the likely developments in European airspace over the coming two/three days.

Speaking on Tuesday, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“Our latest analysis of meteorological forecasts and the volcanic ash clouds suggests that the situation across Northern Europe remains unchanged. Ryanair continues to operate scheduled flights in Spain, Southern Italy, Malta and Morocco, and this will continue during Wed and Thurs. We are also going to operate a number of extra flights between Madrid and the four Canary Islands (Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Tenerife) on Wed and Thurs to allow disrupted passengers the choice to return to Mainland Europe from the Canary Islands where they may continue their return journeys at their own discretion and expense.

“We remain hopeful that changing winds and a better analysis of the extent of these volcanic ash clouds will allow Ryanair to operate a substantial proportion of our scheduled flight operations in Northern Europe from 1300hrs on Thurs. We have decided to cancel our scheduled operations between Ireland and the UK until 1300hrs on Friday, since most passengers travelling between Ireland and the UK can switch to coach and ferry alternatives, and this will allow us to reallocate these aircraft to operate extra flights between the UK and Continental Europe, and between Ireland and Continental Europe from 1300hrs on Thurs until 1300hrs on Friday, to try to clear any backlog of disrupted passengers between the UK and Europe and between Ireland and Europe.

“We presently hope to resume our full scheduled flight operations (subject only to ATC restrictions and weather forecasts) by 1300hrs on Friday 23rd April and we have issued instructions to all of our airports that our immediate priority will be to ensure that no seat operates empty, while there are backlogs of disrupted passengers wishing to travel. Accordingly Ryanair will be operating extra flights on those routes where we believe there are significant numbers of disrupted passengers. Ryanair will also be suspending all airport check-in and baggage fees during the initial days so that our handling agents can prioritise getting flights out on time and processing standby passenger lists. Similarly, while we will consider all passenger requests for reimbursement of reasonable receipted expenses over the past week, any such reimbursement will be limited to the original air fare paid by each passenger.

“I again wish to apologise sincerely to all Ryanair passengers for the disruptions they have suffered over the past seven days, and to assure them that we are working around the clock to provide them with as much information as we can, as early as we can, in order to minimise the disruptions and inconvenience they are suffering. We continue to prioritise the safety of our passengers, crews and aircraft both prior to and following their return to service. Ryanair hopes to operate a number of test flights across Europe either late tomorrow (Wed 21st Apr) in order to verify and satisfy ourselves that it is safe to resume flight operations in Northern Europe on Thursday.

“As always all up to date information in Ryanair’s possession is communicated on our website and I urge all passengers to continue to monitor http://www.ryanair.com for details of extra flights and the resumption of scheduled services on their particular routes.”

Ryanair press release, Tuesday, 20th April 2010

[sn26567]

All CityJet flights are cancelled until 1200 UTC on Wednesday 21th April. For further information please check the website http://www.cityjet.com/dyn/pages/latest-update.shtml

SAS has 17 seats available on our bus from Amsterdam Airport to Copenhagen APR20, at 20hrs .Pls call +32 264 369 37

United Airlines: We anticipate flying this evening from the US to to Paris, Moscow, Geneva, Zurich, Rome.

Delta expects to operate 100% of eastbound transatlantic flights tonight; has axed 400 transatlantic flights since Thursday at cost of $20 million.

US Airways flights to AMS, BRU and ZRH will operate today.

[LAGPanoramic]

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.

Road transport doesn’t make lot of money either. It is even known among banks as one of the worst sectors. And especially during this crisis. And road transport employs LOTS of people as well. I’m curious how many people work for all our transport companies, both truck and coach, and for the dealers and workshops. The different with airline industry, those ten thousands of jobs are spread over hundreds of small or medium companies…
And concerning the rough winter, road transport had a even hard time as airlines, with lots of trucks staying stuck in the snow… meaning more salary costs, and less turnover as trucks stay away on 1 job for way longer as planned…

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.

May I correct you ? I suggest following sentence :
"Airlines and its passengers have been the victims of extreme safety decisions due to exceptional natural phenomenon."

Maybe the measures were exagerated, but as several people said here : better be too safe than not enough. Strange that I didn’t read here (or did I miss it ?) that the European Cockpit Association stated that safety has to come first, and could not be pushed away under commercial pressure. (I read this on the website of several newspapers and in today’s « Le Soir »)

People here keep repeating that airlines deserve subsidies because others (like farmers and car plants) get them too. But I’d like to mention that there are sectors which don’t receive subsidies/compensation or whatever you call it, when mother nature hit them.
As an example: several years ago, I think it was 2000, the summer weather here was awful. I was in a scouts staff at that time, we had only 1 day of sun during our camp in the Ardens in the first half of july. I remember that tour operators sold a record of last minute holidays, as lots of people generally spending holidays in Belgium were bored of this terrible weather. Good for airlines, but a disaster for our hotel industry. They complained a lot, but didn’t receive compensation.
I think that lots of sectors have to deal with nature : sometimes nature boosts you (like it was good for last minute trips that particular summer) and sometimes it hits you hard. It’s up to everyone to build up some reserves when it goes well, for hard times to come.

I’m OK for help to the airlines in those rough times, if the airlines are OK with extra taxes when they have an extraordinary time later on. Deal ?

[grnkg]

You can save for your own genuine sparepart from one of the Airbusses!

LOL!

Or you can save for an adventure trip to Afghanistan, all expenses paid.

Kind regards,
GR.

[SmilingBoy]

At least some good news for the BRU spotters - a BA 747 from Bahrain will be landing at BRU within the next 15 minutes. Diverted to BRU (instead of flying to LHR) just 10 minutes ago. I guess NATS refused permission to use UK airspace below 20,000 feet.

[Bralo20]

At least some good news for the BRU spotters - a BA 747 from Bahrain will be landing at BRU within the next 15 minutes. Diverted to BRU (instead of flying to LHR) just 10 minutes ago. I guess NATS refused permission to use UK airspace below 20,000 feet.

Also a BA 777 from DEL on his way or landed in BRU