Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland, Eyjafjallajokull

[sn26567]

Vigo, Coruña and Santiago de Compostela airports are open to traffic again.

Asturias, Santander, Bilbao, Valladolid, Salamanca, León and Burgos airports are closed now.

Munich is also closed.

An air ash concentration chart issued by Eurocontrol, including buffer from FL000 to FL200, valid at 0000UTC 10/05/2010, shows a concentration (SFC) of more than 200 in Western Ireland, Central Portugal, Northern Spain, Southwestern France, Southern Belgium and Luxemburg, Eastern Austria.

[sn26567]

Volcanic ash cloud: situation at Brussels Airport

Most fights to/from Brussels Airport operate on schedule in spite of the proximity of an ash cloud from the volcano Eyjafjallajökull.

Some intra-european and transatlantic flights are cancelled or delayed.

Should your flight be cancelled you are advised to contact your airline.

List of airline telephone numbers:
http://www.brusselsairport.be/nl/Phone_numbers.pdf

Posted by corpcom on May 10, 2010 8:39 AM

PS. The Brussels Airlines website is again in reduced mode since yesterday.
The TP and SN flights from Brussels to Lisbon are delayed
The SN and LH flights from/to Brussels to/from Hannover and Stuttgart are cancelled.

[sn26567]

Update on European air traffic situation - 10.00 CET

10 May 2010
As of 10.00 CET on 10 May 2010, EUROCONTROL has the following update to make with regard to the situation of air traffic in Europe:

Today EUROCONTROL expects approximately 28,500 flights within the European area which is about 500 below average for a Monday at this time of year.

Areas of high ash concentration have dispersed overnight over continental Europe. There is an area of ash cloud in the middle of the North Atlantic which is impacting transatlantic flights. While most of these flights are operating, many are having to make significant reroutings to avoid the area of ash cloud coverage, resulting in delays.

At the current time no airports are closed in Europe. According to the forecasts, during the afternoon, areas of higher ash concentration could move in a north-easterly direction from the Atlantic into the Iberian Peninsula. The latest ‘Air Ash Concentration Charts’, valid at 14.00CET describing those areas where no-fly zone proposals have been made to the EUROCONTROL Member States are attached.

On Sunday 9 May, there were 23,491 flights within the EUROCONTROL CFMU area, which is about 1,500 below normal traffic levels.

[sn26567]

Airports in Spain and Portugal close

The volcanic ash cloud has forced airports in Spain and Portugal to shut down.

Madrid airport is likely to stay closed until after midday today (May 11), while Faro airport will be shut until at least 3pm.

Airports in the Canary Islands have also been affected.

Ryanair has had to cancel more than 80 flights.

Source: ABTN

[sn26567]

EUROCONTROL UPDATE

As of 10.30 CET on 11 May 2010, EUROCONTROL has the following update to make with regard to the situation of air traffic in Europe:

Today EUROCONTROL expects approximately 29,000 flights within the European area which is close to normal for a Tuesday at this time of year.

Areas of high ash concentration are this morning impacting southern and central Spain and Portugal including the Canary Islands and Madeira. The areas of high ash concentration on high altitudes in the middle of the North Atlantic is dispersing, easing the previously difficult situation for Trans Atlantic flights.

At the current time airports on the Canary Islands, some in south-west Spain and some in Morocco are closed. According to the forecasts, during the afternoon, areas of higher ash concentration could move in a north-easterly direction cutting across the Iberian Iberian Peninsula and into south east France. These areas are of high altitude and are not expected to impact airports.

On Monday 10 May, there were 29,155 flights within the EUROCONTROL CFMU area, which is not far from normal traffic levels.

At the same time, ongoing work by the UK Met Office and the UK CAA has confirmed the effectiveness of the model used to determine the areas where ash concentration could be above engine tolerance levels. For that reason, as from noon today, the 60 nautical mile ‘Buffer Zone’ which was initially added to the proposed no-fly zone will be omitted. Work will continue between aircraft operators, Service Providers, the London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre to refine the model used for predicting ash dispersion.

[sn26567]

AIRLINES HAVE LOST CONFIDENCE IN VOLCANIC ASH DATA
AEA: “We want robust, harmonized and better European crisis management”

The current procedure for determining the no fly zones due to volcanic ash, is based upon calculations by the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in London; in a recent statement, the VAAC defended its modelling of volcanic ash as ‘proven and internationally’ endorsed.’ The Association of European Airlines, which represents 36 leading European network airlines, reacted with disappointment.

“190.00 flights in European air space have shown no sign of any volcanic ashes on hull or engines. The VAAC cannot continue to rely on simulations; further verification flights are essential to increase the accuracy of the VAAC data”, said AEA’s Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus. “AEA airlines have lost confidence in the VAAC as a sufficiently robust and reliable data to be the only source of information for decisions on safety of air services. The French government recently used data from verification flights across its national air space, and data available from its meteorological offices, as basis for its own analysis and decisions. Other governments in Europe are likewise resorting to additional test flights and data to develop practicable solutions”.

The AEA says that there is evidence that the current system is inappropriate, as the VAAC model provides a forecast of ash dispersion. Closure of airspace cannot be based merely on a forecast of ash presence.

“Other regions in the world also deal with volcanic ash eruptions. In the USA, for example, a data source is used which is empirically demonstrated to be robust, accurate and actual.”

AEA says that governments across Europe should not have to pursue different additional data sources to arrive at a sufficiently accurate assessment of the hazardous zones. “Accurate data sources are available right now. AEA calls for an urgent resolution of the ongoing uncertainty and a streamlined use of that pertinent data. Pilots must have accurate data, so that they can avoid hazardous zones.”

AEA press release 12/05/2010

[andorra-airport]

17 may - Heathrow, Gatwick closed. Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Groningen closed between 06.00 - 14.00 local time. Belgium airspace in "Red Zone" at the moment. Black Zone reaching Oostende.

[sdbelgium]

OST will close at 0600GMT. Pilots landing at all Belgian airports should make a report after checking the engines for damage.

[sn26567]

Due to the continuing eruption of Mount Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland and the resulting volcanic cloud, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is closed on Monday 17 May until 14.00 hrs (AMS time).

The following intercontinental flights are cancelled for 17 May:

KL 601 to Los Angeles
KL 611 to Chicago
KL 661 to Houston
KL 573 to Tripoli

The following intercontinental flights planned to arrive in Amsterdam on 17 May, will be diverted and will arrive at other airports:

KL 440 from Doha/ Dammam diverted to Düsseldorf
KL 567 from Kilimanjaro/Dar es Salaam is diverted to Düsseldorf
KL 612 from Chicago is diverted to Paris (CDG)
KL 642 from New York is diverted to Maastricht
KL 652 from Washington is diverted Paris (CDG)
KL 662 from Houston is diverted to Düsseldorf
KL 670 from Dallas is diverted to Düsseldorf
KL 672 from Montreal is diverted to Frankfurt
KL 692 from Toronto is diverted to Paris (CDG)
KL 714 from Paramaribo is diverted to Brussels
KL 785 from St. Martin/Curacao is diverted to Düsseldorf

KLM will transport passengers on these diverted flights to Brussels, Maastricht, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol by bus.

[sn26567]

Belgian air space remains open

Most fights to/from Brussels Airport operate on schedule in spite of the proximity of an ash cloud from the volcano Eyjafjallajökull. Some flights are cancelled or delayed.

Should your flight be cancelled you are advised to contact your airline.
You will find the phone numbers of the airlines here:

http://www.brusselsairport.be/nl/Phone_numbers.pdf

Posted by BAC corpcom on May 17, 2010 8:33 AM

Note: the Brussels Airport website is again in reduced mode.

[sn26567]

Update on European air traffic situation - 17 May 2010 - 10.00 CET

As of 10.00 CET on 17 May 2010, EUROCONTROL has the following update to make with regard to the situation of air traffic in Europe:

Today EUROCONTROL expects 28,000 flights in Europe. This is approximately 1,000 less than on a normal day, and is due to the expected impact of the current closure of airspace in the south-east of the UK and in the Netherlands.

The areas of ash concentration are mainly at low levels. During the course of the day, the current cloud is expected to disperse somewhat. By 14.00CET, the cloud is expected to mainly affect Northern Ireland, parts of Scotland and parts of south-west UK.

There may be some continuing disruption to flights in the greater London area. Delays will also be experienced by flights due to congestion in airspace adjacent to closed areas.

The latest ‘Air Ash Concentration Charts’ describing those areas where no-fly zone proposals have been made to the EUROCONTROL Member States are attached.

On Sunday 16 May, the disruptions in Ireland and north-west UK resulted in a reduction in expected number of flights by about 400. There were a total of 25,088 flights within the EUROCONTROL CFMU area.
Air ash concentration chart from FL000 to FL200 - Valid at 1200UTC 17/05/2010
Air ash concentration chart from FL200 to FL350 - Valid at 1200UTC 17/05/2010

Ongoing information is available through:

CFMU NOP Portal
EUROCONTROL Twitter account

EUROCONTROL Press Office

[jackhookss]

Flights cant go over that volcano clash. So all the flights going towards Europe are cancelled and some of them are diverted through another root. So it will be remain cancel until the volcano get cool down.

[sn26567]

RYANAIR COMPLETES RESPONDING TO ALL VOLCANIC ASH CLAIMS

Ryanair, the world’s favourite airline, today (13th Dec) announced that it has now responded to all the expense claims submitted by passengers in the wake of the unnecessary European airspace closures in April and May of this year following the volcanic eruptions in Iceland. These airspace closures caused the cancellation of up to 10,000 Ryanair flights, affecting some 1.45m Ryanair passengers.

Ryanair today confirmed that it had;

1. Processed 100% of flight refunds for these disruptions by 30th June 2010.

2. Responded to 100% of the subsequent expense claims by 30 Nov 2010.

To date more than 90% of expense claims have been settled. A small number of cases remain unresolved, due to the failure of passengers to provide receipts to support their claims or queries over the reasonableness of some of these expense claims. Ryanair continues to correspond with this small group of passengers, to bring their claims to a resolution.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:

“By the end of June 2010 Ryanair had processed 100% of the flight refunds for these disrupted passengers. We have now responded to 100% of the passengers making expense reimbursement claims by the end of November, one month ahead of schedule. There remains a small group of passengers whose claims have not yet been settled, either because they have failed to provide their receipts to support their claims, or because there is a query over the reasonableness of their claims. We will continue to correspond with these passengers over the coming weeks and we would hope that these claims will be brought to an early settlement as quickly as possible.

“There can be no doubt that these unnecessary airspace closures highlighted the urgent need for reform of the EU261 regulations, in order to relieve airlines of liability for passengers expenses in force majeure cases where the airlines had no responsibility whatsoever for these events. Ryanair has taken a case to the European Court to have these unfair and discriminatory provisions challenged and we hope that this case will come before the European Court within the next 12 months. It is not fair or equitable that airlines are made liable for passengers’ expenses in cases such as the Icelandic volcano, or last weekend’s Spanish ATC strike, where the delays and cancellations were clearly not within the control of any airline.”

Ryanair press release 13.12.2010

[DeltaWiskey]

in the wake of the unnecessary European airspace closures

Imagine a few planes did suffer from the volcanic ash (just a few of the 5 millions) and had engine flame outs, and everything did not work out the good way when diverting... Who was to blame then? The airlines will of course say they were allowed to fly, and they're not to blame.

The airspace closures might have been overcautious in some way, but not at all unnecessary... (as history has proven)

[sn26567]

RYANAIR REJECTS “NONSENSICAL” REPORT JUSTIFYING VOLCANIC ASH AIRSPACE CLOSURES OVER EUROPE

Ryanair, Europe’s favourite airline, today (27 April) rejected the nonsensical report allegedly prepared by “Icelandic and Danish scientists” and released over the Easter weekend, which claimed to justify the closure of vast swathes of Continental European airspace in April and May 2010, because of a volcanic eruption in Iceland.

Ryanair pointed out that at no stage did it object to the closure of airspace over a limited radius (say 50 miles) around the Icelandic volcano, where clearly a safety threat of volcanic ash existed. However what Ryanair and most other EU airlines complained about was that there was no evidence of any volcanic ash over large swathes of the UK, Spain, France, Germany, Portugal or indeed the Canary Islands, which suffered repeated airspace closures because of bureaucratic bungling and political incompetence which unnecessarily disrupted the travel plans of millions of EU citizens.

Ryanair called on these Icelandic and Danish “scientists” to explain how aircraft routinely fly around volcanic eruptions in Alaska and South East Asia, without any threat to air safety (where the regulations apply a “no fly” zone of typically 20 to 50 kms around any volcanic eruption). Ryanair believes that this is a safe and sensible safety measure. However there was no justification for the closure of airspace over locations such as the Canary Islands which was more than 3,000 kms removed from the volcanic eruption in Iceland and where there was no evidence of any volcanic ash whatsoever.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:

“These brilliant “scientists” in Iceland and Denmark should perhaps explain where exactly they obtained the samples of volcanic ash for their analysis? Did they find it up a mountain in Iceland or on a beach in the Canary Islands? Perhaps when these scientific geniuses have finished publishing misleading reports on Easter Sunday, they could explain why flights in Alaska or South East Asia are allowed to operate safely, even during periods of volcanic activity, by simply establishing 30 or 50 kms no fly zones, yet last year during a volcanic eruption in Iceland, airspace was closed 3,000, 4,000 and 5,000 kms away from this volcano, with no evidence of volcanic ash, but lots of evidence of scientific bungling and regulatory mismanagement.

“This report which appears to have been leaked over the Easter weekend was clearly designed to cover the embarrassment of these bungling scientists and the regulators who completely cocked up and mismanaged the closure of much of Europe’s airspace during April and May 2010 when there was no threat to air safety anywhere except over Iceland”.

Ryanair press release 27.04.2011

[regi]

Those (ash)clouds move quite unpredictable. Direction but also level. It was very difficult to find the exact location of ash clouds , and predict their movements. So it was decided that because of this untracability , it was safer to close airspace for some days . May we conclude that Ryanair will contribute large amounts of its profits to alarm/detection systems ?

In every business activity there is a possebility of a unpredictable disaster. A tsunami combined with a nuclear disaster in Japan affects worldwide car and electronics manufacturing. A car accident obliges the police to block the entire highway to do their investigation. Gone is your JIT delivery. And gone is your flight because you are stuck in traffic. Oh yes, Ryanair, how much do you care about those passengers who can not reach the airport in time because of government blocked highways?

Is Ryanair the same company who messed up my return flight to Charleroi, missing an important business meeting ? With their excuse that the airplane had a technical problem. Which turned out to be a lie afterwards. The airplane was photographed in Ireland , but was missing its shedule because of one or other reason. Compensation, excuse?

[airazurxtror]

Compensation, excuse?

Another Ryanair bashing and brickbatting.
By the way, I wonder if the passengers of the SN flight below have received much compensation and many excuses ?
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=44737

[B.Inventive]

If any compansation should be attributed to PAX, for the ash cloud, it should be done the corresponding authorities which made the decision to close the airspace, NOT the airline!
(Several airlines conducted testflights which indicated the premature closure of the airspace was seriously uncalled for!!!)

[regi]

Compensation, excuse?

Another Ryanair bashing and brickbatting.
By the way, I wonder if the passengers of the SN flight below have received much compensation and many excuses ?
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=44737

If Ryanair and its supporters don't like to be bashed, they should not release such a aggressive statements.

[airazurxtror]

That does not answer my question ....