MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ash cloud over Europe cancels 17.000 flights, costs carriers 200 million daily

Millions of passengers are stranded in European airports

Millions of passengers have been stranded in Europe as air traffic controllers cancelled 16.000 flights Friday after a huge ash cloud spread from an Icelandic volcano covering much of the northern continent.

As the huge plume of ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano drifts over Europe IATA said the cancelled flights are costing the airlines an estimated 200 million US dollars per day, with passengers are stranded at major airports including Frankfurt, London, and Rome.

A top official from the industry said that 200 millions is a conservative estimated and the impact could be felt industry wide for several weeks to come.

“Certainly at Heathrow British Airways has a very large presence, as do a lot of North-American based carriers. And in Frankfurt you've got Lufthansa that has a massive operation there. Europe is unique in that they have a lot of low-cost carriers. You've got Easy Jet operating out of Luton airport in London and some other low-cost carriers throughout Europe. You know, there's like 30,000 flights a day in Europe and I believe about half of them have been cancelled as of today” said Bill Miller, Senior Vice President with CheapOair travel company.

The ash cloud even trapped Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who was stuck in New York after his flight home was cancelled. Mr. Stoltenberg used his Apple iPad electronic device to run his government while he made his way home.

The difficulty with volcanic ash is that it is more like small particles of glass rather than the ash left over from a fire. The pumice and other minerals can severely damage aircraft engines, control surfaces and navigation equipment.

Geologist Bill Burton from the US Geological Survey said that volcanic ash is uniquely destructive to aircraft. “It's like sandblasting your aircraft if you fly in the middle of it: millions of tiny hard pieces are flying into your jet engine. And they are abrading the engine and any forward facing surfaces including windshields. The silica in the ash can also melt and then re-solidify within the engine so you can actually coat the parts of your jet engine. And all of those things can be disastrous”.

In 1989, a KLM airlines 747 with 231 passengers aboard lost power to all four of its engines after flying through an ash cloud from the Redoubt Volcano in Alaska. The plane plunged from 27,000 to 13,000 feet before the pilots were able to re-start the engines and finish the flight to Anchorage Alaska.

The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in London says that the high atmospheric pressure over the Atlantic is dictating that the wind strengths and the cloud will stay in northern Europe. However, should the pressure change, the cloud could move more toward the Mediterranean.

Update information: Network Operation