Ash over Europe

What happened


Britain's airports reopened on lucsday
night alter a six-day shutdown caused
by volcanic ash. [lie eruption of a
volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull
glacier in Iceland on 14 April had
produced a vast cloud of mineral dust
which soon spread over much of
Europe. The ash can cause fct engines
to stall or fail permanently, and the
UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)
banned all flights. Governments across
northern Europe soon followed suit.



Some 95,000 (lights woe cancelled as a result, and more
than 300)000 British travellers were stranded abroad (see
page 20). The episode is thought to have cost the airline
industry about £l.lbn in revenue, and the British economy
more than illOOm per day. On Tuesday, the blanket ban was
lilted in Britain, amid strong pressure from the aviation
industry. The decision followed safety tests that showed
plane engines could cope in areas of low-density ash.


What the editorials said
"For the second time in three years, Iceland has been the
unlikely source of economic mayhem in Europe," said the Wall

Street Journal. This time, though, it was
not its banks, but the awesome power of
"Mother Nature" that was responsible.
The UK authorities must, however, share
some of the blame, said The Daily
Telegraph. "Stuff happens; but stuff can
also be planned for and dealt with more
effectively than seems to have happened
here." Only after six days of this "national
emergency" did they take firm action.
There has been a regrettable uncertainty
"over the scientific rationale for the closure
of UK airspace, and of its reopening".


The airline companies were certainly furious, said The
Independent - they described the blanket ban as unnecessary
and launched their own test flights to prove the point. But the
authorities were guilty of nothing more than speedily invoking
the international aviation rules on volcanic ash. If there is a
good case for reviewing those rules, "that must be done in a
proper scientific manner, not in the heat of public indignation".