AFA - Aerospace Forum Asia

Sign of the times ...recommends industry activists to review this abridged/highlighted clip from Bloomberg ...it is a sharp fact laden article discussing financial and operational impact of the volcanic ash cloud  from Iceland ,on airlines.
(Posted 22 Apr,2010)

ASH ATTACK AFTERMATH ....aviation returns to new found respect?
I am sure you are awash with news of the "Great Grounding" but here is a short sharp fact laden update from Bloomberg on the financial and operational impact on airlines. One quick way of appreciating the scale of  regrouping that airlines now need to perform is to turn to yesterday's announcement from Cathay, that it  will not accept any new bookings for Europe bound flights until 10th May.

A second attached article from the ECONOMIST will tell you more than you may ever need to know about the history and threat level of Icelandic volcanos. I would also commend CAPA's recent lessons learnt piece, about the past seven days of shock and awe around the Atlantic.

MY POINT,CONSISTENTLY RAISED IN A MULTITUDE OF RECENT OPINION LEADING MEDIA PIECES. IS THAT  HAS AVIATION FOUND FROM THE GENERAL PUBLIC, SOME OF THE RESPECT AND APPRECIATION IT WAS ONCE SO FAMILIAR WITH? IF SO, WHAT TO DO WITH THIS PRECIOUS ASSET.... YOUR THOUGHTS?

I should also remind,the more fatalistic of you all, that the ash attack started on 15/4,which was also the 98th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Maybe mother nature has a birthday after all...and wants to us, who really calls the shots.

FINALLY A REMINDER THAT, THE VOLCANO ERUPTIONS PERMITTING, THE AFA BEIJING DLEGATION TOUR 11-14 MAY IS STILL HAPPENING...WE HAVE 8 BOOKINGS AND A FEW SEATS ARE STILL AVAILABLE AT THE CAAC/CAMIC CONFERENCE.....PLEASE ADVISE ASAP IF YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE.

London Airports Open, Sparking ‘Mad Rush’ From Fliers-Bloomberg.com 21 Apr 2010
by By Steve Rothwell, Nichola Saminather and Patrick Donahue

 Thousands of travelers stranded by the Icelandic ash cloud began returning to Europe as London’s Heathrow airport became the last major terminal to open after the end of a six-day flight ban that cost airlines $1.7 billion.

British Airways Plc and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd., the top long-haul carriers at Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, aim to operate all inter-continental services today after the U.K. joined other nations in permitting flights through the ash.

“We came in a mad rush,” said Diana Tucker, 60, as she queued for a British Airways service from Sydney to London in a bid to get home to the Channel Islands after yesterday’s flight was scrapped. “We don’t know if we’ll get on. We’re very tired.”

Airlines have lost an estimated $1.7 billion in revenue following the April 14 eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano, the International Air Transport Association said. Flights within Europe still face cancellation as planes are out of position and discount carriers Ryanair Holdings Plc and EasyJet Plc said timetables may be limited for days to come.

Ash represents a threat to jetliners because it could stop their engines by melting and congealing in turbines.

More than 100,000 flights have been canceled since the eruption began, including 5,500 today, according to Brussels- based Eurocontrol, which coordinates routes in the region. While restrictions remain in Finland and parts of Scotland, almost 100 percent of services should operate tomorrow, it said.

Heathrow, which attracted 66 million passengers in 2009, ranking it second in the world after Atlanta, opened last night after the U.K. and planemakers agreed new rules for plane inspections and flights through thinner parts of the ash plume.

British Airways, which lost 20 million pounds ($30 million) a day in revenue during the shutdown and wasn’t able to resume short-haul services until 1 p.m. local time, had criticized Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government for applying a stricter safety regime and keeping airports closed as hubs in Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam opened for business.

Chief Executive Officer Willie Walsh, himself a former pilot, said in a briefing that the imposition of a “blanket ban” on U.K. flights was unnecessary.

Executives from TUI Travel Plc, Europe’s largest tour operator, and Thomas Cook Group Plc, the No. 2, met with U.K. Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis last night and were also given “no clear reason” for the airspace closures, according to a statement today. More than 100,000 customers of the two companies have been stranded, they said.

“The government will continue to work with all of the relevant agencies to ensure that people can return home to the U.K. quickly and safely, and that those booked on flights out of the U.K. can travel as soon as possible,” a spokesman for Brown said in a statement.

Ryanair, Europe’s largest discount carrier, said north- European services will remain canceled until 5 a.m. tomorrow and that operations between the U.K. and Ireland won’t resume for another day after that.

The airline will suspend airport and check-in baggage fees during the restart so that handling agents can focus on keeping flights on schedule and processing standby passengers, it said.

EasyJet, the region’s No. 2 low-cost airline, plans to operate 900 flights today, or 86 percent of the full schedule. It will still be “several days” before normal operations resume, the Luton, England-based carrier said.

The shutdown has cost EasyJet “a good 50 million pounds,” and the airline will be seeking compensation from the U.K. government, CEO Andy Harrison said in a Bloomberg TV interview.

IATA Chief Executive Officer Giovanni Bisignani said governments had generally been “late in taking decisions” in the face of a crisis “much worse in dimension and in length” than that following the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001.

“The situation continues to be an embarrassment,” he told reporters today in Berlin. “Airspace was being closed based on theoretical models, not on figures and facts. Test flights showed the models were wrong.”

At the height of the flight ban almost 29 percent of the international schedule was affected, or 1.2 million passengers a day, said Bisignani, who called for the acceleration of steps toward a “single European sky” for air-traffic control.

Services from Paris’s Charles de Gaulle and Orly terminals resumed yesterday morning, enabling Air France-KLM Group, Europe’s biggest airline, to restore schedules.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG plans to operate about 500 flights today, spokesman Thomas Jachnow said by telephone. Frankfurt airport has officially opened, said Axel Raab, a spokesman for Germany’s DFS air traffic control agency. The terminal had previously permitted operations under “visual-flight rules.”

Airlines must conduct their own risk-assessment tests, undertake damage inspections before and after each flight and report any ash-related incidents, according to the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority.

“Manufacturers have now agreed increased tolerance levels in low ash density areas,” the CAA said, adding that these will allow for “a phased reintroduction” of flights. The safety body will also run ash tests from the air and on the ground.

Asian and U.S. airlines are resuming flights to northern Europe. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., with about 15,600 delayed travelers, has two planes stranded in London and Frankfurt, which it will use for extra services today. Europe-bound flights are fully booked for the rest of the month and the Hong Kong- based carrier isn’t accepting reservations before May 10.

Singapore Airlines Ltd. has about 3,000 passengers stranded in Sydney and some 5,000 in Singapore, spokeswoman Susan Bredow said from Australia. The carrier is making three London flights today, one more than it planned earlier.

Qantas Airways Ltd. said it may take three weeks to clear a backlog of 15,500 passengers. Australia’s biggest airline said yesterday the shutdown was costing A$1.5 million ($1.4 million) a day and that no seats to Europe were available before mid-May.

As of 6 p.m., the ash plume was projected to stretch from Greenland and eastern Canada to Ireland, the U.K., France and Belgium, according to the Exeter, England-based Met office, with another band affecting Sweden, Finland, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic nations.

Britain’s relative proximity to the eruption has been a consideration in decisions taken about airport openings, Transport Secretary Adonis said in an interview.

“Britain is closer to Iceland than other parts of Europe and we’ve been more severely affected, so judgments we make here may not be the same judgments made in Europe,” he said.

European airlines have asked governments and the European Union for aid, British Airways’ Walsh said. Payments were made after the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the U.S. in 2001, “and clearly the impact of the current situation is more considerable,” he said.

EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said restrictions on assistance may be eased as the impact of the disruption is discussed by ministers.

The Eyjafjallajökull eruption began on March 20 with a lava flow on the eastern flank of the volcano, according to the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland. After a lull, it resumed early on April 14 directly under the glacier that covers most of the mountain. The previous eruption of the 1,666-meter peak in December 1821 continued until January 1823.