Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption - Wikipedia

Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption - Wikipedia
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Composite map of the volcanic
ash cloud
(with
Eyjafjallajökull
volcano in red) spanning 14–25 April 2010, based on data by the London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre's website
Met Office
, UK).
In response to concerns that
volcanic ash
ejected during the
2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
in Iceland would damage
aircraft engines
the
controlled airspace
of many European countries was closed to
instrument flight rules
traffic, resulting in what at the time was the largest air-traffic shut-down since
World War II
The closures caused millions of passengers to be stranded not only in Europe, but across the world. With large parts of European airspace closed to air traffic,
many more countries were affected as flights to, from, and over Europe were cancelled.
An eruption on 14 April
led to an initial uninterrupted shutdown over much of northern Europe from 15 to 23 April. Afterwards, airspace was closed intermittently in different parts of Europe in the following weeks, as the path of the ash cloud was tracked. The
ash cloud
caused further disruptions to air travel operations in Scotland and Ireland on 4 and 5 May
and in Spain, Portugal, northern Italy, Austria, and southern Germany on 9 May.
Irish and UK airspace closed again on 16 May and reopened on 17 May.
10
The eruption occurred beneath
glacial ice
. The cold water from the melting ice chilled the
lava
quickly, causing it to fragment into very small particles of glass (
silica
) and ash, which were carried into the
eruption plume
. The extremely fine ash particles and the large volume of steam from the glacial
meltwater
sent an ash plume
hazardous to aircraft
rapidly high into the
upper atmosphere
11
The presence and location of the plume depended upon the state of the eruption and the winds. The large amount of glacial meltwater flowing into the eruption vent made this eruption so explosive that it ejected its ash plume directly into the
jet stream
, which was unusually stable and south-easterly.
12
The ash was then carried over Europe into some of the busiest airspace in the world.
The
International Air Transport Association
(IATA) estimated that the airline industry worldwide would lose
€148 million
US$200 million
£130 million
) a day during the disruption.
13
IATA stated that the total loss for the airline industry was around €1.3 billion (£1.1 billion, US$1.7 billion).
14
The
Airport Operators Association
(AOA) estimated that airports lost £80 million over the six and a half days.
15
Over 95,000 flights had been cancelled all across Europe during the six-day airspace ban,
16
with later figures suggesting 107,000 flights cancelled during an 8-day period, accounting for 48% of total air traffic and roughly 10 million passengers.
17
Background
edit
Dust particles suspended in the atmosphere scatter light from the setting sun, generating 'volcanic lavenders' like this one over the flight path of
Leeds Bradford Airport
in England during the aviation shutdown
The London
Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre
(VAAC) was responsible for providing information about the
ash plume
to the relevant
civil aviation authorities
in the form of Volcanic Ash Advisories (VAA). On the basis of this, the authorities made decisions about when and where airspace should be closed due to the safety issues. Their decisions resulted in the cancellations of flights at airports across the world, not only in those countries where airspace was restricted. On 16 April 2010, 16,000 of Europe's usual 28,000 daily scheduled passenger flights were cancelled and on the following day 16,000 of the usual 22,000 flights were cancelled.
18
By 21 April 95,000 flights had been cancelled.
19
Before this, the most severe restrictions to air travel in recent times were following the
attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States
when all civil air traffic (not just scheduled) in US airspace, and to and from the United States, was grounded for three days.
Professor Bill McGuire
of the Aon Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre said on 15 April that the most notable eruption of the
Icelandic volcano
Laki
which occurred in 1783,
20
would, if it occurred today "have the potential to severely affect air travel at high northern latitudes for six months or more". The last time the
Eyjafjallajökull
volcano
erupted, in 1821, it spewed ash for over a year.
21
Geophysicists
in Iceland said that the production of ash from Eyjafjallajökull was likely to continue at a comparable level for some days or even weeks; a geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office said, "Where it disrupts travel depends on the weather. It depends how the wind carries the
ash
".
22
Jet engine tolerance to airborne particles
edit
Main article:
Volcanic ash and aviation safety
In 1982,
British Airways Flight 9
flew through volcanic ash of
Mount Galunggung
Java
, Indonesia, causing all 4 engines to shut down. However, the crew restarted all but one of the engines and
landed safely
. Subsequently, there was an addition to the operations manuals, describing how to deal with volcanic ash.
23
In 1989,
KLM Flight 867
was on its approach into
Anchorage
Alaska
when the
Boeing 747-400
flew through volcanic ash from
Mount Redoubt
causing all 4 engines to shut down. The crew were able to restart both engines on the left wing and landed safely in
Ted Stevens International Airport
Iceland's authorities had been warning airlines for several years, asking them to determine the density of ash that is safe for their jet engines.
24
However, prior to the volcanic events of April 2010, aircraft engine manufacturers still had not defined specific particle levels above which engines were considered to be at risk.
[1]
The general approach taken by airspace regulators was that if the ash concentration rose above zero, then the airspace was considered unsafe and was consequently closed.
25
The April eruption of Eyjafjallajökull caused enough economic difficulties that aircraft manufacturers were forced to define specific limits on how much ash is considered acceptable for a jet engine to ingest without damage. On 21 April, the UK's
Civil Aviation Authority
(CAA) in conjunction with engine manufacturers, set new guidelines
26
which allowed aircraft to fly when there are levels of volcanic ash between 200 and 2000 micrograms (2 milligrams) of ash per cubic metre. These levels were declared by governments, aircraft manufacturers, and airlines not to have safety implications if appropriate maintenance and ash inspection procedures were followed.
27
28
From noon 18 May, the UK CAA further revised the safe limit upwards to 4 milligrams per cubic metre of air space.
29
Any airspace in which the ash density exceeds this limit is categorised as
prohibited airspace
To minimise the level of further disruption that this and other volcanic eruptions could cause, the UK CAA announced the creation of a new category of restricted airspace called a
Time Limited Zone
(TLZ).
30
Airspace categorised as TLZ is similar to airspace experiencing severe weather in that the restrictions are expected to be of a short duration; however, the key difference with TLZ airspace is that airlines must produce certificates of compliance in order for their aircraft to enter these areas.
Flybe
was the first airline to conform to these regulations and their aircraft will be permitted to enter airspace in which the ash density is between 2 mg and 4 mg per cubic metre.
31
Airspace restrictions in Europe
edit
External videos
Flight video; variations of traffic due to ash cloud
Radar animation
Airspace completely (red) or partially (orange) closed to IFR traffic on 18 April 2010
Flight disruptions at
Leeds Bradford International Airport
during the eruptions.
Some flights from
Oslo
operating and over
Italy
by the morning of 18 April 2010.
Flights returning to most of mainland Europe on 19 April 2010. Note that no data is available for much of France and some other areas.
Flights apparently operating to all of Europe on 20 April 2010. No data available for much of France and some other areas.
Under international regulations, all scheduled passenger flights operate under the
instrument flight rules
(IFR) which requires clearance to be obtained from
air traffic control
. From 14 April onwards, the
controlled airspace
was closed in several European countries and no IFR clearances were granted.
citation needed
The airspace of Iceland itself was hardly disrupted in this period (although a change in the wind direction on 23 April caused the main airport to be closed).
citation needed
By 23 April, the restrictions were lifted over much of Europe through the introduction of new guidelines on volcanic ash density. After this date there were sporadic closures from time to time, notably in the UK, Ireland, and Iceland, but not a blanket shutdown.
Country
Restrictions imposed
Austria
On 16 April,
Austro Control
ceased air activities at airports in both
Vienna
and
Linz
Salzburg
and
Innsbruck
stopped flights at 20:00
CEST
; and
Graz
and
Klagenfurt
followed at 23:00 CEST. At 00:30 on 18 April, all Austrian airports were closed until 18:00.
32
The Austria Press Agency reported that permission to resume takeoffs and landings took effect at 05:00 local time (0300 UTC) Monday but that it was unclear whether the airspace would remain open all day.
33
Belarus
On Saturday 17 April, the airspace over Belarus was closed.
34
Belgium
Belgium's airspace closed at 16:30 CEST on 15 April. It remained closed until 08:00 CEST on Tuesday 20 April.
35
Bosnia and Herzegovina
The airspace over Bosnia and Herzegovina was closed to traffic from 08:00 CEST until midnight (00:00 CEST) on 17 April.
36
Bulgaria
On Sunday 18 April, all Bulgarian airports were closed.
37
However, at 14:00 local time the airports in
Sofia
and
Plovdiv
were open.
38
Croatia
At 02:00 CET on 17 April, the air space over northern Croatia was closed, including
Zagreb
. At 08:00
CET
the airports at
Pula
Rijeka
Zadar
, and
Lošinj
were closed.
39
clarification needed
Denmark
Naviair
, the state-owned company controlling Danish airspace, announced that Denmark's airspace would close at 16:00 UTC on 15 April.
40
However, Naviair assessed that it is safe to fly through airspace in high altitude – 35,500 feet (10,800 m).
This means that aircraft on a route such as Tokyo to New York can fly over Denmark.
41
Danish airspace was subsequently closed until 02:00 on 21 April.
42
Estonia
On 15 April
Estonian Air
flights from
Tallinn
to
Oslo
, Copenhagen, and London were cancelled due to airspace closures in
Norway
, Denmark, and the UK.
43
As the ash cloud spread over Estonia on the night of 16 April, all flights were cancelled due to closure of airspace in
Estonia
44
Estonian airspace was partly opened in the evening of 19 April and completely late evening on 20 April.
45
Finland
Finland closed its airspace at 00:00
EEST
on 16 April, having previously closed northern, western, and central parts of its airspace.
46
On 19 April a gap formed in the ash cloud over Finland, and
Finavia
lifted flight restrictions at the airports of
Helsinki-Vantaa
Turku
, and
Tampere-Pirkkala
in the afternoon. During the five hours that Helsinki-Vantaa airport was open, there were a total of ten flights either arriving or departing.
47
On 20 April the upper airspace was opened at 9,500 metres (31,200 ft) altitude to international overflights above the occurrence of the ash.
48
On 21 April, Helsinki-Vantaa Airport's air traffic control services are open and other airport services, like terminal services, are returning to normal by 12.00 noon. The airport was closed again at 3 pm.
49
On 22 April, Helsinki-Vantaa Airport was opened around 3 pm, and was expected to remain open at least 24 hours.
50
France
At 23:00 UTC+02 on 15 April 24 airports, including
Charles de Gaulle Airport
, were closed.
51
On 17 April, the
Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile
extended the suspension to 35 airports, including all Paris airports, until 08:00 UTC+2 on Monday 19 April.
52
On 18 April, the closure of the Paris airports was extended to at least 08:00 UTC+2 on Tuesday 20 April.
53
Germany
On 16 April, all international airports in Germany were closed.
54
The complete airspace was opened again for IFR and VFR at 11:00 CEST on 21 April.
55
Hungary
Hungary's airspace was closed at 19:00 CEST on 16 April.
56
It remained closed until 10:00 UTC on Monday 19 April.
57
Iceland
On 22 April, the Keflavik airport, which serves as the main entry point for International flights to Iceland, closed due to ash.
58
Ireland
On 15 April, the
Irish Aviation Authority
announced restrictions on flying in Irish airspace until
06:00 IST
on Friday 16 April at the earliest
59
Restrictions were lifted on flights to and from
Cork
Shannon
, and some regional airports by the day's end but restrictions remained at
Dublin
until
11:00 UTC+1
59
The government's emergency planning taskforce, which included several government departments,
An Garda Síochána
Met Éireann
, the
Irish Aviation Authority
(IAA), and Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), met on the evening of 15 April to discuss the emergency.
60
The taskforce had met at the National Emergency Co-ordinating Centre on five further occasions by the morning of 20 April 2010.
61
On 16 April, Irish air space was reopened for domestic flights from
10:00 IST
and westward transatlantic flights resumed from Dublin:
62
Irish flights which were scheduled to fly eastwards over the United Kingdom and continental European airspace remained grounded.
62
On 17 April, the ash spread to most of Ireland, and all airspace was closed until 18:00 UTC+01, and subsequently extended until 18:00 UTC+01 on Monday 19 April.
63
On Monday 19 April, the country's aviation chief warned that Dublin was "damned" and would be shut off to the rest of the world until Friday 23 April.
64
On Tuesday 20 April, it was reported that at least 30,000 Irish people were still stranded abroad, unable to get home.
65
Those who were at home were opting for "staycations", as Irish holidaymakers swapped
Barcelona
for
Ballybunion
in a boost for domestic tourism.
66
It had been anticipated that Irish air space would re-open for limited flights from 05:00 UTC+1 on 20 April; however, the volcanic ash cloud made this impossible. It was expected that normal flights will resume from Friday, 23 April, due to the backlog of flights.
67
Shannon Airport opened at 13:00 UTC+1 on 20 April (not for departing commercial flights) but Cork Airport and Dublin Airport remained closed.
68
On 20 April at 21:00 UTC+1 Irish airspace fully re-opened, but air travellers were advised to contact their airline. It was expected that normal flights would resume on Friday 23 April.
69
A statement from the
Irish Aviation Authority
said "[it] is expected that flights tomorrow [21 April] will focus on positioning aircraft and crews and full service by the airlines may take up to three days to recover. Passengers should consult airline websites before travelling to the airport for flights."
70
On 4 May, Irish airspace closed from 07:00 to 13:00 IST. The IAA said the decision was based on information from the Volcanic Ash Advice Centre (VAAC). The no fly zone affected Dublin, Shannon, Galway, Sligo, Ireland West (Knock), Donegal, Cork, and Kerry.
70
At 13:00 UTC+1 Irish airspace fully re-opened. However further closures and cancellations occurred the next day, on 5 May.
71
Italy
Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione Civile
closed the airspace over
Northern Italy
for 17 April, excluding emergency flights and flights flying over 35,000 feet (11,000 m),
72
from
06:00 CEST
until
14:00 CEST
73
The closure was later extended to
08:00 UTC+02
on Monday 19 April.
74
Over 198 flights at the Rome airports were cancelled, 436 at the
Milan
airports, 104 at
Naples
, and 43 at
Catania
74
75
Kosovo
Kosovo closed its airspace at 00:00 UTC+02 on 18 April, cutting air access to
Pristina
. It reopened at 14:00 UTC+02 on 18 April.
76
Latvia
Latvian
airspace was closed at 21:00 UTC on 15 April, cutting air access to
Riga
and other airports of local significance.
77
It is to remain closed until at least 06:00 UTC on 19 April, but would probably remain closed until 22 April.
78
Luxembourg
Luxembourg Airport
was closed for virtually all flights on 16 April and remained closed at least until the evening of 18 April.
79
80
Netherlands
Dutch airspace closed at 17:00 UTC on 15 April and remained closed until 20:00
CEST
on 19 April. They restarted flights after this time, starting with 4
KLM
flights to
Dubai
, New York, Toronto, and Shanghai.
81
82
83
Norway
Air travel was suspended from 14 April. Airports throughout
Nord-Trøndelag
Nordland
Troms
, and
Finnmark
were re-opened at times, as those areas were least affected by the ash: the largest of these,
Trondheim
, was opened for six hours on 16 April.
The total closure of Norwegian airspace included the 21
search and rescue
and medical aircraft and helicopters in the country. The health authorities stated that the challenges faced were unprecedented in modern history, and ambulances and medical personnel were moved north and out of cities to decentralise the service and replace the lost aerial transport.
84
The air space caused most of the
oil platforms
in the
North Sea
to not be able to fly in new personnel, causing existing crews to have to work until 18 April.
85
Poland
Poland closed the northern part of its airspace at 18:00 UTC on 15 April. On 16 April its whole airspace was shut down.
86
The disruption affected the
funeral
for the Polish president
Lech Kaczyński
, his wife
Maria
, and the other victims who died in an
air crash
earlier in April. Family members decided not to postpone the ceremony, resulting in other countries' dignitaries being unable to attend.
Portugal
Portugal's
Institute of Meteorology
(IM) announced on Tuesday 20 April that the cloud of volcanic ash entered the Portuguese airspace controlled by the Azorean island of Santa Maria, in an area still far from the national territory, and that the affected area was "very small".
87
For the most part, only flights to countries with closed airspaces were cancelled forcing numerous members of the government (including the president) who were away to return to the country by car from the UK, Austria, and Belgium.
88
however several flights to the U.S. and elsewhere were also cancelled because of the unavailability of planes coming from other parts of Europe or carriers that required the planes to stop in their countries, such as Germany or France.
87
Romania
Romania closed the northwestern part of its airspace at 00:00 local time (
UTC+03
) on 17 April, including
Oradea
Satu Mare
Baia Mare
Cluj-Napoca
Sibiu
, and
Timișoara
airports. The two
Bucharest
airports were also closed. Romania's entire airspace closed at 18:00 local time (
UTC+03
89
on 17 April until at least 12:00 on 19 April. On 20 April Timișoara, Otopeni, Băneasa, Craiova, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, Oradea, Satu Mare, and Baia Mare airports reopened.
90
Serbia
Montenegro
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Air Traffic Services Agency of Serbia and Montenegro, shut down all traffic over
Serbia
, Montenegro, part of international waters of the
Adriatic Sea
, and the upper airspace of
Bosnia and Herzegovina
that it controls, at 14:00 UTC, 17 April.
91
The airspace was reopened at 22:00 UTC, 18 April.
92
Slovakia
Slovakia's airspace was closed at 15:00 UTC on 16 April.
93
Slovenia
The
Transport Ministry
closed the airspace to the north of the
46th parallel
up to 35,500 feet (10,800 m) at 22:00 UTC on 16 April, and over the entire country at 06:00 UTC on 17 April. The closure lasted until 19:10 UTC on 18 April.
94
95
It was the first closure of Slovenian airspace since the
Ten-Day War
in 1991.
96
On 03:00 UTC on 20 April, the airspace was closed again up to 20,500 ft (6,200 m).
97
On 07:00 UTC on 21 April, the airspace was opened again without restrictions.
98
Spain
Aena
closed seven airports in northern Spain at 20:00 UTC+1 on 17 April: they were planned to remain closed until 10:00 on 18 April,
99
but one hour later, at 21:00 UTC+1 they started to operate again. At 08:30 UTC+1 on 18 11 April northern airports were closed, including
Barcelona
, the country's second largest. At 12:00 UTC+1 two more airports in the
Balearic Islands
were closed, including Spain's third largest
Palma de Mallorca
. All 13 airports were expected to reopen at 20:00 UTC+1 on 18 April. Other minor airports, not controlled by Aena, were closed as well, although it was thought they could be re-opened at 15:30 UTC+1.
100
Sweden
Sweden's airspace was closed at 20:00 UTC on 15 April. Airspace north of
Söderhamn
was reopened at 16:45 CEST on 18 April.
101
Switzerland
The Federal Office of Civil Aviation issued a
notice to airmen
at 14:15 UTC on 16 April stating that the FIR Switzerland
clarification needed
would be closed for
visual
and
instrument
flight rules operations from 21:59 UTC on 16 April to 12:00 UTC on 19 April.
102
Police, Search and Rescue (SAR) and emergency medical helicopter flights were exempted.
103
Swiss International Air Lines
informed its customers on 16 April that the airports at
Zurich
Basel
, Geneva, and
Lugano
airports would be closed, and that all flights going to those airports would be cancelled.
104
Turkey
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation closed central-northern national air zones by 13:30 UTC (16:30 UTC+3) on 18 April between flight levels FL200 and FL350 until 09:00 UTC (12:00 UTC+3) on 19 April. All airports, however, remained open.
105
Ukraine
The Ministry of Transport closed most national air zones by 00:00 UTC+3 on 17 April: only southern airports remained open. Aircraft from
Egypt
and
Thailand
, bound for
Kyiv
, landed at
Simferopol
. All Ukrainian airspace was closed by 15:00 EEST on 17 April.
106
107
United Kingdom
Scotland
was the third region in Europe, after Iceland and Norway, to be affected, with all Scottish airports being closed to
instrument flight rules (IFR)
operations by 04:00 BST on 15 April. The United Kingdom's controlled airspace was closed to IFR flights at 11:00 UTC (12:00
BST
) on 15 April.
108
However, several Icelandair planes flying from Keflavik landed at Glasgow on 16 April.
109
The last commercial flight to leave British airspace before the lockdown was imposed was a
Singapore Airlines
flight (number SQ317) from
London Heathrow
airport to
Singapore Changi
. It was officially scheduled to leave at 11:55 BST but became airborne at 11:32.
There was no restriction on
visual flight rules
traffic.
Royal Air Force
search and rescue aircraft
continued to operate as normal, as did flights between
Land's End
and the
Isles of Scilly
which operate in
uncontrolled airspace
at an
altitude
less than 3,000 feet (910 m).
110
There remained no commercial airliners in British airspace until the morning of 16 April, when an
Air Transat
flight was given clearance to leave
Glasgow
for Toronto.
111
On the evening of 20 April, it was announced that all the UK's airports would be opened from 22:00 BST.
112
On 4 May, the airspace over Northern Ireland and the west of Scotland closed from 07:00 to 13:00 UTC+1. The CAA said the decision was based on information from the Volcanic Ash Advice Centre (VAAC). The no fly zone affected both Belfast airports and Derry airport.
70
At 13:00 UTC+1 the airspace over Northern Ireland and Scotland fully re-opened. However, further closures occurred on 5 May.
113
On 16 May, the airspace closed over much of the UK from 13:00 until 17 May 07:00 UTC+1. The airports affected were East Midlands, Manchester, Liverpool, Doncaster Sheffield, Humberside, Carlisle, Belfast City, Belfast International, Glasgow Prestwick, those on Scottish islands, and the Isle of Man. London airports remained open most of that period except for a period during the early morning of 17 May.
114
115
Disruptions outside Europe: Canada
edit
Almost every country with an international airport experienced some disruption due to flights to or from Europe being cancelled. Canada was the only country outside Europe recorded as having cancelled any flights due to a risk from ash clouds in its own airspace.
The Canadian airspace was never closed or restricted because of volcanic ash. Although the UK Met Office map of 21 April
116
shows the ash cloud reaching
Labrador
Newfoundland
, the
Maritime provinces
, far eastern
Quebec
, and the
Gulf of St. Lawrence
, concentrations were expected to be sparse.
117
On Monday, 19 April, the combination of heavy fog with a warning by
Transport Canada
and
Nav Canada
of a 30% risk of volcanic ash reaching
St. John's
led to the cancellation of several flights scheduled to leave
St. John's International Airport
Gander
, and
Deer Lake
118
119
Because of the heavy fog, it is unclear if the ash cloud warning was really the cause of the cancellations and delays in
Newfoundland
, and most flights returned to their normal schedule within the day.
120
Air Canada
said their flights were "subject to some delays due to inclement weather, unrelated to ash cloud."
121
On Tuesday, 20 April, two
Air Canada Jazz
flights between the
Magdalen Islands
and
Quebec City
cancelled stop-offs in
Gaspé
because of ash over the
Michel-Pouliot Gaspé Airport
122
Attempts to reopen airspace
edit
Ash plume blowing across the North Atlantic on 15 April.
Most airspace started to close from 15 April. However, in the days following there were brief windows free of the cloud at different locations which were exploited to make a few aircraft movements. There then followed test flights and pressure grew to re-evaluate the criteria for safe levels of ash to fly through.
On 16 April a 30-minute break at
Manchester
allowed two flights to land, and one aircraft to be moved to Florida, empty (as there was no time for passengers to board). At
Glasgow
, an
Air Transat
flight to Toronto took off while a
British Airways
flight from New York, and a
Thomas Cook
flight from
Orlando
123
and
Icelandair
flights from
Keflavik
124
landed.
On 17 April 2010, the president of German airline
Air Berlin
, in an interview with the newspaper
Bild am Sonntag
, stated that the risks for flights due to this volcanic haze were nonexistent, because the assessment was based only on a computer simulation produced by the
VAAC
. He went on to claim that the
Luftfahrt-Bundesamt
closed German airspace without checking the accuracy of these simulations.
125
Spokesmen for
Lufthansa
and
KLM
stated that during their test flights, required by the
European Union
, there were no problems with the aircraft.
126
On the morning of 17 April
Lufthansa
moved 10 aircraft from
Munich
to
Frankfurt
at low altitude following visual flight rules. There were no problems reported and no sign of damage to the planes.
127
The same day, an Airbus belonging to
Ural Airlines
attempted flying below the ash clouds from Moscow to
Rimini
. When the airplane was in Austrian airspace, the crew reported being low on fuel and diverted to
Vienna
, where the airplane landed safely.
128
On the morning of 18 April KLM successfully carried out a test flight from
Amsterdam
to
Düsseldorf
with no problems. Afterwards, seven KLM planes with no passengers returned from Düsseldorf to Amsterdam.
129
Air France
also performed a test flight from Paris to
Toulouse
130
In the evening of 18 April German airspace was partially re-opened for a period of 3 hours allowing a plane of stranded holidaymakers from
Faro
, Portugal to land at
Hanover
131
The vice president of the Dutch pilots union said "We are asking the authorities to really have a good look at the situation, because 100 per cent safety does not exist," Mr. Verhagen continued. "It's easy to close down air space because then it's perfectly safe, but at some time you have to resume flights."
132
In the afternoon of 19 April, German carriers Lufthansa and Air Berlin obtained permission for some flights from and to German airports under
Visual Flight Rules
. Lufthansa started sending planes to long-haul destination in order to return stranded passengers later that day.
133
Late on 19 April and early on 20 April, some flights were permitted to take off in northern Europe, including from
Scotland
and northern England, but
Manchester Airport
, that had planned to open on 20 April, remained closed because of a new ash cloud.
134
The
Civil Aviation Authority
announced that all UK airports would be permitted to open from 2200 on 20 April. Twenty-six British Airways long-haul flights were already in the air and requesting permission to land.
135
136
By 20–21 April several airlines confirmed that "air service will be resumed in stages" and started publishing lists of selected flights that were "most likely to be operated" within one single day.
137
138
"Effective Thursday, 22 April, Lufthansa will resume normal flight operations and offer you the usual reliability", claimed the airline at 15:30 on 21 April.
139
Stranded travellers
edit
The closure of the airspace left five million travellers stranded around the world,
140
of which up to a million were British according to
ABTA
141
Several thousand passengers were stranded in Asia,
142
the United States, and Australia.
143
Disruption was greater than that after the
11 September attacks
, for example:
144
The disruption had a significant effect on schools across the United Kingdom because it came at the end of the Easter Holidays and many pupils and teachers were among those stranded abroad.
145
Swedish and Norwegian charter tourists visiting Mallorca, Canary Islands, Cyprus, or Egypt were flown to Barcelona or Athens and then driven back to Sweden and Norway by bus
146
(a total distance of ≈3,400 kilometres (2,100 mi) from Athens to Oslo by road taking two and a half days without a break).
147
Around 600 Mexican middle-school students, ranging from 12 to 16 years old, who had attended a competition in England for foreign students and scheduled to return home on 18 April were stranded for almost a week. Some started to return to Mexico on 21 April and by 24 April most of them were already home.
Stranded passengers were not necessarily given priority over new passengers for return flights.
British Airways
told passengers in India and China that any free seats were being sold on the open market, and advised them to buy new tickets and seek reimbursement on return.
148
In addition to being stranded, some travelers also encountered issues with their visas after arriving at destinations unexpectedly:
At
Brussels airport
, 200 travelers from
Bangladesh
were unable to leave the building without a
visa
149
Passengers from
Kolkata
headed for London on an
Air India
flight were diverted to
Frankfurt
, where they were unable to leave the airport to seek accommodation because they did not have visas for Germany.
150
A group of passengers from the United Kingdom were facing arrest in
Delhi
over a breach of immigration laws, because they left the airport without visas.
151
On 17 April the
UK Border Agency
announced that it would make allowances for travellers who were unable to leave the UK and whose visas had expired, provided that evidence of travel reservations during the travel disruption was presented.
152
Belarus
, Serbia,
Finland
, and
Russia
also eased visa formalities for affected passengers.
153
154
155
156
Alternative transport routes
edit
Queue at
Bergen Station
as travelers wait to purchase train tickets from the
Norwegian State Railways
Passengers destined for countries where airspace was closed had to switch to other modes of transport, possibly via airports still open in
Portugal
Morocco
, and
Turkey
to the east. Once inside Europe, many people tried to reach their final destination by train or road. People hired coaches, hire cars, and taxis while the train companies reported a large increase in passenger numbers.
157
Eurostar
passenger trains were solidly booked, the
Eurotunnel
car-carrying trains which run through the
Channel Tunnel
were very busy, and additional services were scheduled. Travel conditions in France were compounded by an ongoing rail strike affecting long-distance trains.
158
Most UK and Irish ferry routes were exceptionally busy and coach operator
Bus Éireann
arranged extra
Eurolines
services between Ireland and England via ferry.
citation needed
The websites Twitter and Facebook, as well as other sites like Roadsharing, were used to arrange alternative travel plans involving boats and ships, trains, and other forms of transportation such as cars, as well as to try to find rooms for the night in the cities where they were stuck.
159
As an alternative to face-to-face business meetings,
videoconferencing
was also used by the European Union, governments, and companies.
160
Many people who had to travel, particularly those stranded while away from their home countries, faced large costs for unanticipated travel and accommodation at a time of scarcity.
161
Some costs were covered by compensation from airlines and travel insurance,
162
although there were many disputes over payments.
citation needed
Some people incurred large
taxicab
fares over long distances, such as English actor
John Cleese
, who took a taxi from
Oslo
to
Brussels
and paid €3,000 for the journey.
163
On 18 April 2010,
UK Government ministers
announced a plan for flights to land and take off in Spain, and to transport passengers by sea back to the United Kingdom.
164
On 19 April, the cabinet crisis response committee (
COBRA
) decided that
Royal Navy
ships should be utilised to
repatriate
stranded British travellers, in
Operation Cunningham
HMS
Ark Royal
HMS
Ocean
, and
HMS
Albion
were deployed, but only Albion was directly involved in repatriation.
165
After the disruption in
transatlantic flight
, the
Cunard Line
said its volume of calls inquiring about booking passage on its
ocean liner
RMS
Queen Mary 2
by stranded air passengers wishing to
cross by ship
had tripled since the weekend of 16 April.
166
Criticism of airspace closure
edit
There was much criticism by airlines, which suffered large financial losses, of the airspace closures as unnecessary; however, the
EU transport presidency
disagreed, saying that "This situation is causing them important losses, but safety is paramount".
167
Military flying
edit
Some military aircraft which flew during the period of closure suffered engine damage, although no crashes were reported.
On 15 April, five
Finnish Air Force
F-18
fighter jets on exercise flew into the ash cloud in northern Finland. Volcanic dust was found on the engines of three of the aircraft and a further inspection revealed extensive damage by molten glass deposits inside the combustion chamber of one of the engines. The engines were sent for disassembly and overhaul. As a result, all unnecessary military flights were cancelled except for identification flights to enforce sovereign airspace. Meanwhile, a
BAE Hawk
trainer with special equipment to sample the volcanic dust was being flown from the 41st squadron in
Kauhava
168
169
Even short test flights with an F-18 revealed engine damage sufficient to destroy engines.
170
On 19 April,
NATO
reported finding molten glass in the engines of at least one
F-16
, the result of flying through the ash cloud, leading to the scaling-down of U.S. military exercises.
170
Royal Air Force
flights to
Selly Oak Hospital
in Birmingham were grounded, and the
United Kingdom Ministry of Defence
considered flying
British casualties of the Afghan War
to
coalition countries
171
On 23 April it was announced that British
Royal Air Force
training flights had been suspended following volcanic ash damage to the engines of
Eurofighter Typhoon
aircraft.
172
Impacts of the disruption
edit
Main article:
Effects of the April 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption
The disruption accelerated the integration of the national air traffic control systems into the
Single European Sky
and the immediate creation of a crisis coordination group to handle future transportation disruptions.
173
The ash indirectly affected
many scheduled cultural and sporting events
because key participants were unable to attend, including the funeral of Polish president
Lech Kaczyński
in
Kraków
on 18 April 2010. The funeral was to have been attended by 69 presidents, prime ministers, and other heads of states. Almost half of these, including
Barack Obama
Angela Merkel
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Stephen Harper
, and
Nicolas Sarkozy
, were unable to travel to Poland because of the disrupted air traffic.
174
175
There was also a wider impact on the economies of several countries. However, there were some environmental advantages arising from a saving of around 1.3 to 2.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
176
177
Many
supply chains
were affected by the disruptions across the globe, which led to discussions on the importance of
supply chain resilience
in the aftermath of the event.
Ash cloud maps
edit
The following maps, with the volcano in red, depict the progress of the ash cloud during the period of disruption.
Depiction of the estimated ash cloud at 18:00 UTC on 14 April 2010.
Depiction of the estimated ash cloud at 18:00 UTC on 15 April 2010.
Depiction of the estimated ash cloud at 18:00 UTC on 16 April 2010.
Depiction of the estimated ash cloud at 18:00 UTC on 17 April 2010.
Approximate depiction of the ash cloud at 18:00 UTC on 17 April 2010.
Approximate depiction of the ash cloud at 18:00 UTC on 18 April 2010.
Approximate depiction of the ash cloud at 18:00 UTC on 19 April 2010.
Approximate depiction of the ash cloud at 18:00 UTC on 20 April 2010.
Approximate depiction of the ash cloud at 18:00 UTC on 21 April 2010.
Approximate depiction of the ash cloud at 18:00 UTC on 22 April 2010.
Approximate depiction of the ash cloud at 18:00 UTC on 23 April 2010.
Approximate depiction of the ash cloud at 18:00 UTC on 24 April 2010.
Approximate depiction of the ash cloud at 18:00 UTC on 25 April 2010.
Composite map spanning 14–25 April 2010
See also
edit
Europe portal
Iceland portal
2011 eruption of Grímsvötn
Crisis situations and protests in Europe since 2000
Volcanic ash and aviation safety
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edit
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