Cloud over take-off efforts

London: Aviation authorities began trying to implement a plan to ease six days of severe restrictions on aviation traffic around Europe on Tuesday, but a new ash cloud spreading south from the erupting volcano in Iceland threatened to undermine the efforts.
The reopening was cautious, patchy and unpredictable, underscoring the piecemeal nature of the European response to the unparalleled disruption that has drawn criticism from the airline industry, spread confusion among marooned travellers and stilled many of Europe’s busiest flight-paths.
The Eurocontrol air traffic agency in Brussels said it expected some 55 to 60 per cent of flights over Europe to go ahead on Tuesday, a marked improvement over the last few days.
By midmorning, 10,000 of Europe’s 27,500 daily flights were scheduled to go, the agency said.
In disparate ways, European governments sought to ease the inconvenience — and mounting cost — for passengers stranded in far-flung destinations.
The French consulate in Hong Kong urged French residents to open up their homes to stranded compatriots. With an estimated 150,000 citizens stranded abroad, Britain’s Royal Navy sent a warship to Spain to pick up troops returning from Afghanistan with a handful of civilians.
Several airports in southern Europe — notably Madrid, Athens and Rome — continued to serve as impromptu hubs for the rest of the continent on Tuesday, but the new uncertainty over weather conditions was
The region is grappling with a new blow to its ability to act decisively during an emergency. Most noisily, the head of the International Air Transport Association said before the announcement to partially lift the aviation ban that “the decision Europe has made is with no risk assessment, no consultation, no coordination, no leadership.”
21/04/10 Hindustan Times

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Categories: Foreign Apr 2010, Indian Aviation- In General Apr 2010