Posted on 04/21/2010 2:51:27 PM PDT by Dallas59
AMSTERDAM – Airlines toted up losses topping $2 billion and struggled to get hundreds of thousands of travelers back home Wednesday after a week of crippled air travel, as questions and recriminations erupted over Europe's chaotic response to the volcanic ash cloud.
Civil aviation authorities defended their decisions to ground fleets and close the skies — and later to reopen them — against heated charges by airline chiefs that the decisions were based on flawed data or unsubstantiated fears.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“European Katrina”
The ashes did seem whiter than normal
I say open up the skies and let them fly where they want with all the proper warnings that they shouldn’t fly. When airplanes start falling out of the sky the euro aviation authorities can say ‘not our fault.’
Airlines don’t exactly think like normal businesses sometimes...hehe
European airline pilots warn governments about engine failures caused by ash amid pressure to get flights moving again
Pilots warn against ‘rash’ decisions to allow flights through the volcanic ash cloud amid pressure to get flights started again. Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
European airline pilots warned governments and safety regulators today against making "rash" decisions to allow planes to fly through volcanic ash clouds amid growing pressure from airlines across Europe to create "safe flying corridors" to get flights moving again.
The pilots' intervention came as air traffic controllers dashed hopes that flights would resume from London Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted this evening by announcing that most UK airspace would remain closed until 1am tomorrow. Airlines said the restrictions, which meant only a few flights took off from airports in Scotland and northern England, were an over-reaction.
BA announced tonight it was cancelling all flights until midday tomorrow.
The UK's air safety watchdog, the Civil Aviation Authority, is holding meetings with national air traffic controllers, airline executives and Lord Adonis, the transport secretary, to discuss flying through zones with small amounts of ash. But the European Cockpit Association, told the Guardian today that any attempts to establish "safe flying corridors" through airspace where ash was present should not be rushed.
[ ... see more at link ...]
Off hand, I would say these are the guys to listen to. If they don’t fly they don’t get paid.
Get some drones to do recon.
“You’re doing a great job, (Gordon) Brownie.”
Looter guy fault????
More BS.
At $1000/flight, that would be two million passengers. And that's revenue, not costs. (No one seems to be saying how much the oil companies "lost.") The fact is that most of the stranded people will eventually become revenue anyway.
ML/NJ
Since it’s been the airlines which refused to participate in any serious research on a safe minimum threshold of ash particles in the atnosphere, they’ve only themselves to blame.
I’m almost at that point, too.
This is one of those things that takes a crash for people to stop whining.
Kind of like 9/11 unfortunately.
People will complain until they realize maybe it’s better to be safe.
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