European flights resume, but ash cloud still disrupts
By Greg Roumeliotis
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Flights from large parts of Europe were set to resume on Tuesday under a deal to free up airspace closed by a huge ash cloud, but strengthened eruptions from an Icelandic volcano threatened to unravel the plans.
British air traffic controllers warned a new ash cloud was headed for major air routes, prompting British Airways to cancel its short-haul flights, while several countries either closed airports anew or curtailed use of their airspace.
Poland, which had reopened four airports on Monday, closed them again on Tuesday, as well as shutting the northern part of its airspace to transit flights, citing the ash cloud.
Hungary closed part of its western airspace below 6,000 m (20,000) ft due to higher amounts of volcanic ash, its air traffic authority said, and Ireland said the renewed eruption of the Icelandic volcano on Monday, and prevailing weather conditions, forced it to extend its airspace closure.
"The density of volcanic ash over Irish airspace is such that restrictions will have to continue until 1300 hours (1200 GMT) today at least," the Irish Aviation Authority said in a statement.
Britain's biggest airports remained closed, and even where flights resumed, at the Edinburgh and Glasgow airports in Scotland, the service was limited.
"It's really just Scottish domestic flights, maybe a couple of international ones, there's one going to Iceland -- yes, it's ironic, isn't it?" said Glasgow airport information officer Steven Boyle.
Details remained sketchy of how the authorities would split European airspace into areas where aircraft could fly or not and other countries were adopting a more cautious approach.
But exactly how national authorities would split European airspace into areas where aircraft could fly or not was not clear, and many countries were adopting a cautious approach.
Britain's NATS said in an overnight statement that the volcano eruption was strengthening and a new ash cloud was spreading south and east towards Britain.
"This demonstrates the dynamic and rapidly changing conditions in which we are working," it said.
The meteorological office in Iceland said the volcano, though erupting steadily, was actually emitting less ash and more lava than previously, creating a lower cloud of ash.
Meteorologist Bjorn Einarsson said the emission of more lava meant the volcano, erupting under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier about 120 km (75 miles) southeast of the capital Reykjavik, was producing less ash.
"The tremors in the volcano have been slightly increasing, but that does not give any indication of the amount of the ash cloud. It has changed into a lava producing eruption," he told Reuters.
"The ash cloud is much less because you do not have the water to mix with it. You can still have a lot of tremors going around the volcano because the lava is coming out," he added.
He said the existence of a new plume might be due to the time it took for the cloud to travel from the north Atlantic island to other areas.
"Ash that came up yesterday might be arriving today," he said
AREA AROUND THE VOLCANO WOULD STAY CLOSED
Under the EU deal, flights may be permitted in areas with a lower concentration of ash, subject to local assessments and scientific advice.
Airlines had declared numerous test flights problem-free over the past days, but experts disagree over how to measure the ash and who should decide it is safe to fly. A British Airways jet lost power in all four engines after flying through an ash cloud above the Indian Ocean in 1982.
Eurocontrol said it expected up to 9,000 flights to have operated in Europe on Monday, a third of normal volume.
IATA officials said the economic impact on aviation was greater than after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Industry losses worldwide for passenger airlines and cargo companies could reach as much as $3 billion from the cloud, Helane Becker, an analyst with Jesup & Lamont Securities, told Reuters Insider on Monday. For U.S. airlines, she estimated the impact at $400 million to $600 million.
Firms dependent on fast air freight were feeling the strain.
South Korea's Incheon International Airport, the world's fourth-busiest cargo handler in 2008, suffered 3,216 tonnes of lost shipments to Europe from April 16-19, the country's customs agency said.
Twenty inbound and 25 outbound cargo flights had been cancelled. Among those suffering were computer chip and electronics suppliers such as Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor.
Twenty inbound and 25 outbound cargo flights had been cancelled. Among those suffering were computer chip and electronics suppliers such as Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor.
Kenya's flower exporters, which account for a third of EU imports, said they were losing up to $2 million a day.
Thousands of people stranded in Asia were offered a glimmer of hope on Tuesday after the first flights started to take off. A Lufthansa aircraft left Beijing around noon local time (5:00 a.m. British time) bound for Frankfurt, the first flight to northern Europe to leave China since late last week.
At least five more flights, bound for London, Paris, Rome and Munich, operated by British Airways, Lufthansa and Air China, were scheduled to leave later in the day.
SOME MAKING THE BEST OF IT
Millions of people have had travel disrupted or been stranded and forced to make long, expensive attempts to reach home by road, rail and sea, as well as missing days at work and school at the end of the busy Easter holiday season.
Some said they made the best of an unfortunate situation.
"There are much worse places than that to be stuck so we had a pretty good time," said a visitor to Paris from New York who only gave his name as Gabriel. He arrived last Tuesday and was supposed to fly back to New York on Friday.
"Not knowing when you would get back, that was a problem otherwise we made the best of it, had great food and great wine," he told Reuters at Orly airport.
It's all a bit crazy but you have to err on the side of caution," Thomas said. "Nobody wants to be on the first plane to go down in a volcanic cloud."
Businesses have had to find alternative ways of operating. Communications provider Cisco Systems said companies were turning to videoconferencing to connect executives.
Britain was deploying three navy ships, including an aircraft carrier, to bring its citizens home from continental Europe. The British travel agents' association ABTA estimated 150,000 Britons were stranded abroad. Washington said it was trying to help 40,000 Americans stuck in Britain.
A British embassy official said on Tuesday the HMS Albion was in the northern Spanish port of Santander where it would collect 450 British soldiers and around 250 British nationals.
(Additional reporting by European and Asian bureaux; Writing by Sonya Hepinstally; Editing by Dominic Evans)
