Friday 23 April 2010

After the Ash

An unprecedented week in European aviation history  with barely an IFR movement in the northern sector for 6 days.

European air transport regulations  covering passenger compensation never envisaged this situation and now place the carriers in an unenviable situation unless government compensation under national emergency criteria can provide some relief.

And within  3 hours of UK airspace reopening the UK transport minister  blaming his experts for failing to accurately detail the problem and benchmark  it to previous situations.

The result - the industry forecast to lose $1billion as a direct result and politicians diving for cover to avoid verbal bazookas from all directions.

 So was it completely overblown ?  I seemed to  take forever for anyone in authority to ask the questions:

-What density of ash  are we seeing in the upper atmosphere? and how does it compare with the levels that caused the BA and KLM incidents of years ago? Clearly this type of contaminent has the ability to  turn any of our large air transports  into large gliders.

BUT ---What is  an acceptable level of contamination below which safety is not compromised?

It is very frustrating that such a simple question seems to  remain unanswerable -- 'Was it all necessary?' Such  fundamentally basic questions remain unanswered and result in incremental costs to an already beleaguered industry of banking proportions. The result -- the industry is left with  an uneasy feeling and an unexpected hole in the accounts .  It seems the pendulum only has 2 political positions- 'ignore the problem' at one extreme whilst at the other extreme, 'close the system down'.  Where's the middle ground?

Clearly the issue of aviation safety is absolutely paramount. But the level of condemnation from the operators immediately after the lifting of the ban was also unprecedented and suggests a level of anger at excessive imposition and the extent of the lock down.



Large air transport movements weren't the only casualties  with row upon row of business aviation units  parked up across Europe.