Volcanic ash: Struggling Europe meets its 9/11 in ash attack

London: Eyjafjallajoekull, a word almost nobody had heard of, has suddenly topped the lexicon for thousands of stranded travellers, the travel and tourism trade, airlines, logistics companies, and now European governments.
The obscure Icelandic volcano, which continues to erupt, resulted in an almost total flight ban over Northern Europe for the fifth day Monday, and the fall-out of the volcanic ash cloud is beginning to take on the contours of a major economic disaster for an already beleaguered Europe — hitting airlines, travel and tourism, hospitality, insurance, air-cargo, fruit and vegetable trade, air-freight and the logistics industries, while aviation and travel stocks tumble across world markets.
Airlines on Monday, losing over $200 million per day according to IATA, lambasted European governments for delaying a co-ordinated response, and accused them of over-reacting to the safety issue, with European Commission weighing in on the side of airlines. Indian airline industry, struggling with fuel prices and recession, is estimated to have already lost about Rs 82 crore in terms of passenger revenue alone, both international and domestic, though proper estimates are yet to be done.
CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee estimates that the impact is tremendous for business travellers. “It is a great critical loss for many, especially the airlines in India, although we have not been able to quantify the loss as yet,” he said. The $60-billion technology services sector that gets about 30% of its revenue from the European market says it’s business as usual, so far, after the issue was discussed at Nasscom’s executive council meeting on Monday. “In fact, companies may be saving travel money as they rely more on video conferencing,’’ said Som Mittal.
20/04/10 Sudeshna Sen/Economic Times

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