Iceland volcano to strand millions of flyers

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

De trollen in IJsland hebben niet onze belangen op het oog.
Ik zag vandaag een lijstje met de historie van de uitbarstingen in
Ijsland en zag alleen maar minimums van 20 dagen, en dan ook nog een
paar grotere uitschieters, waar ik niemand mee wil confronteren.

De vooruitzichten van morgen zijn dat het zuiden van Spanje en het
zuiden van Turkije (en dan ook alleen nog maar een hap in het midden)
geen last van de uitstoot zal hebben.
Geen goede vooruitzichten.

Groet / Cees

Iceland volcano to strand millions of flyers
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
     * From: The Times
     * April 17, 2010 12:00AM

UP to six million passengers worldwide could be affected after aviation
officials warned that the unprecedented closure of airspace across
Britain and large parts of northern Europe caused by a massive plume of
volcanic ash was set to continue into next week.

As debris continued to spew from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in
Iceland, air traffic co-ordinating agency Eurocontrol warned that there
was plenty more travel misery to come for travellers in Europe and beyond.

"Forecasts suggest that the cloud of volcanic ash is continuing to move
east and southeast and that the impact will continue for at least the
next 24 hours," it said in the statement.

Eurocontrol "expects about 11,000 flights to take place today in
European airspace. On a normal day, we would expect 28,000."

Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of stranded passengers, already
experiencing the worst travel chaos in living memory, faced trying to
make alternative arrangements by rail, road or sea - or cancelling their
trips.

Six million passengers could be affected if the closures continue over
the weekend, says the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.

The plumes have closed some of Europe's busiest airports, including
Charles de Gaulle in Paris, London's Heathrow and Schiphol in Amsterdam.

France, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Denmark and The
Netherlands also announced the complete or partial closure of their
airspace, authorities in each country said.

Britain's air traffic service said yesterday it was extending a ban on
most air traffic until 10am (AEST) today.

The agency said Britain had not halted all flights in its space in
living memory, although many were grounded after the September 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks in the US.

"People can't remember a time when it has been on this scale," said
Patrick Horwood of the air traffic service. "Certainly never involving a
volcano."

A spokesman for the service denied that it had overreacted by closing UK
airspace. "Safety is our main priority and volcanic ash is a serious
threat to aircraft," the spokesman said. "Safety experts said that if
the ash is sucked into jet engines it can cause them to fail
catastrophically."

US flights bound for Heathrow had to return to their departure cities or
land elsewhere when London airports were closed. Canadian airlines also
cancelled some Europe-bound flights.

Flights from Asia, Africa, South America, Australia and the Middle East
to Heathrow and other top European hubs were also put on hold.

Airspace over northern Poland was closed and disruption may extend
further south as the country prepares to welcome world leaders including
Barack Obama for the funeral of the late President Lech Kaczynski
tomorrow. Delaying the funeral has become a very serious possibility.

The volcano began erupting on Wednesday for the second time in less than
a month, triggering floods and shooting smoke into the air. About 700
people from - rural areas near Eyjafjallajokull were evacuated yesterday
due to flash flooding, as water carrying chunks of ice the size of
houses rushed down the mountain.

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