Effects of the April 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption

The eruption of Eyjafjallajökull

The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano on 14 April 2010 has affected the economic, political and cultural activities in Europe and across the world.

There was extensive air travel disruption caused by the closure of airspace over many countries. This had a consequent knock on effect to the travel plans of a great many people with plans to travel within, to, or from Europe, including politicians, members of royal families, athletes, musicians and other artists.

The state funeral of President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and his wife on 18 April 2010 was affected as some national leaders were unable to attend, including Barack Obama, Stephen Harper, Angela Merkel, and Nicolas Sarkozy.

Economic impacts

Airline industry

Particulate matter in the ejected dust scatters light from the setting sun, generating 'volcanic lavenders' like this one over the flight path of Leeds-Bradford Airport in England during the aviation shutdown.

See also: Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption

Flights aboard airliners across the world were canceled due to the airspace restrictions and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated the airline industry worldwide losses £130 million ($200 million) a day as a result. Following Air France-KLM's and British Airways' requests to the European Union, and additionally in the latter's case to the British government, for compensation, Gordon Brown announced that the EU Solidarity fund, designed to aid EU member states in the event of large-scale disasters, could be a possible source of compensation. The EU's competition commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, also said the EU was considering easing its rules on governmental subsidies to airlines.

Jet fuel prices went down.

European economies

Several sectors that depend on air freighted imports and exports were badly affected by the flight disruptions. Shortages of imported flowers, fruits, electronic hardware were reported in the immediate days after the disruption. Exports of IT hardware were also affected as firms were unable to ship their product out.

The pharmaceuticals industry is expecting that it will be hit by spoilage concerns as the stock they manufacture in the UK is time sensitive, and will expire quickly, while not being able to ship to overseas customers. Imports of medications have been affected, and local stocks, as they expire.

There were growing fears about the transportation of food supplies and other essential goods. It was reported that the United Kingdom would soon face shortages of fresh items that are normally shipped in by air.

FedEx, DHL and other transport companies were grounded throughout much of Europe; FedEx cancelled more than 100 flights. Instead they had to transport packages to alternate destination (such as Istanbul or Madrid) and then ship by road to final location.

Travel firm TUI Travel reported losses of £5-6m per day during the airspace closure due to travellers being unable to return home.

The carmaker BMW said it was suspending production at three of its plants in Germany, because of interruptions in the supply of parts. As waylaid travellers scrambled for other modes of transport, ferry and railway companies enjoyed an unexpected bonanza, while some car-hire firms were reportedly hiking charges.

African economies

Kenya is reported to have needed to destroy 400 tonnes of flowers it was unable to airship into the UK. As a result, their economy was estimated to be incurring losses of $3.8m each day of the disruption. Thousands of Kenyan farm workers were temporarily laid off as harvesting of flowers and vegetables was stopped by 19 April due to the grounding of flights. The Kenya Flower Council said 3,000 tonnes of flowers have been scrapped. The Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya called the situation "disastrous".

Zambia's flower and vegetable industry is losing about $150,000 (£98,000) a day because of the volcanic ash over Europe that has grounded flights. Farm workers in Kenya have already been sent home as harvesting has stopped because of the flight ban. Other African industries, such as Uganda's fish and flower export businesses, have also been affected by the grounding of planes

Asian economies

Nissan has said that it will suspend production of three models in Japan on 21 April 2010 because supply of parts has been disrupted by the volcanic ash. It will halt production of 2,000 vehicles in two plants. Honda also announced a partial halt to production. Factories in China's Guangdong province have seen air shipments of clothes and jewellery delayed. In South Korea, Samsung and LG said they were unable to air-freight more than 20% of their daily electronics exports. And the Federation of Hong Kong Industries said hotels and restaurants in Hong Kong were facing shortages of French cheese, Belgian chocolates and Dutch fresh-cut flowers.

Political impacts

Travel disruption

Ash cloud on 15 April 2010.
Current forecasts are updated at the London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre's website (Met Office, UK)

A number of world leaders had to postpone planned trips because they were unable to fly.

• Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin postponed a trip to Murmansk on 15 April due to the presence of the ash.
• Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was in New York City for a conference and became stuck there because of the air travel restrictions and unable to return to Oslo. Stoltenberg and his entourage managed to get by plane to Madrid on Friday, and then onto another plane to Basel, Switzerland. Unable to get a train ride they would be traveling the rest of the way by car and were expected to arrive in Norway on Saturday.
• The President of Portugal, Cavaco Silva had to extend his state visit to the Czech Republic due to the volcanic ash. The President made his way from Prague to Barcelona by car and then took a Falcon of the Portuguese Air Force home to Lisbon. President Silva arrived in Portugal on the evening of April 18. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany was forced to make a "surprise" visit to Portugal as she returned from the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C. She was expected to return to Germany by 10AM on Saturday, but has since then flown to Rome and is also expected to return home to Germany by car.
• The ash plume disrupted the UK general election campaign trail on 15 April. Liberal Democrat treasury spokesperson Vince Cable's visit to Dunfermline and West Fife was terminated, as was Labour Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth's journey to Scotland.
• Emir of Qatar Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani postponed an official two day state visit to Germany, originally scheduled for April 18 to 20, due to the volcanic ash and airport closures.

Funeral of Lech Kaczyński and Maria Kaczyńska

Main article: Death and state funeral of Lech Kaczyński and Maria Kaczyńska

The funeral of President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and his wife, killed on 10 April 2010 in the plane crash in Smolensk took place on 18 April without some national leaders present, including Barack Obama, Stephen Harper and Nicolas Sarkozy. Presidential aide Jacek Sasin initially said a postponement until later that day or even the following day was a "very serious alternative", but it was later announced that according to the wish of the president's family the funeral will take place as originally planned. On 17 April delegations from India, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand and Pakistan notified they won't attend as all airports in Poland remain closed until further notice. President Barack Obama released a statement Saturday afternoon that he would not be able to attend the funeral due to the volcanic ash and the air traffic disruptions. He stated, in a phone call to acting President Bronisław Komorowski, "Michelle and I continue to have the Polish people in our thoughts and prayers..."

70th Birthday celebration for Queen Margrethe

The travel plans of members of European royal families from countries such as the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Spain were cancelled by the ash— they had intended to travel to Copenhagen to celebrate the 70th birthday of Denmark's Queen Margrethe. The Dutch, Norwegian, and Swedish Royal Family changed their plans from air to car or rail.

Government of Ireland

Nine Government TDs and six Opposition TDs were reported on 20 April to be stranded outside the country by the ash plume. These include Ministers of State Conor Lenihan, Áine Brady and Michael Finneran; Fianna Fáil backbenchers Johnny Brady, Frank Fahy, Seán Ardagh and former Ceann Comhairle John O'Donoghue who had to resign over his expenses abroad in 2009, Independent TDs Michael Lowry and Eamon Scanlon. The Opposition TDs missing were reported as Brendan Howlin (Labour) and Olivia Mitchell, Damien English, Jim O'Keeffe, James Reilly and Bernard Allen (all from Fine Gael). The Government passed one vote by a majority of two TDs that day.

Royal visit to Canada

The British Royal Family's travel plans were disrupted, including the cancellation of the Princess Royal's plan to visit Halifax, Nova Scotia for a Canadian Forces celebration, scheduled for April 21.

Military and civil impact

The Forecasting Economic Support Group of ICAO's Committee on Aviation Environment Protection postponed a planned summit in Bern as North American and Scandinavian members would be unable to attend.

The repatriation of five German Bundeswehr soldiers wounded in action on 15 April in Afghanistan had to be postponed due to the closing of the German airspace. The MEDEVAC plane carrying them from Termez Airbase was rerouted to Istanbul where they are to be treated pending further developments.

On 20 April, it was reported that around 160 Irish troops, mainly from Dublin and Dundalk and from the Eastern Brigade and due to return home on a chartered plane from a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, were stranded in the Balkans due to the puma. They remained at Camp Clarke outside Pristina.

Cultural impacts

Arts

Television

The ash plume has been reported to have had effects on the arts worldwide, with multiple articles detailing the chaos and cancellations, from the Daily Mail to The New York Times.

One of the early widely reported incidents was the trouble of actor/comedian John Cleese, who spent 30,000 Norwegian kroner (roughly £3,300) on a taxi journey from Oslo to Brussels after his flight from Norway was cancelled due to the ash plume. He had been appearing on Skavlan and hoped to catch the Eurostar in order be back home in London by 17 April. The 1,500 kilometre journey lasted around 15 hours, and Cleese passed through Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium during his voyage.

83-year old naturalist and television presenter Sir David Attenborough and his crew, who had reached the North Pole to film the upcoming BBC nature series The Frozen Planet, were stranded in the Norwegian Arctic territory of Svalbard when the volcanic ash forced air space closure. BBC executives expressed concern that Attenborough's crew would lack food and supplies if they were unable to leave the location, which they reached in a private plane.

BBC Sport personnel affected include Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker (holidaying in Tenerife, he booked a flight to Madrid on 16 April, hired a car at the airport, drove through the night to Paris, caught the Eurostar to London and was not due to arrive until 5:30 pm, a mere few hours before he is due on TV, Clare Balding (she drove from Switzerland to present a Challenge Cup rugby league game between Hull and Leeds) and football commentator Jonathan Pearce (he drove from France to be in England for the football on 17 April).

The status of WWE RAW on USA Network on Monday 19 April was uncertain as RAW cast and crew were still stranded in Belfast, Northern Ireland during their European tour. Only a few Raw stars, including Triple H, are outside of Europe.

Music

Singer Whitney Houston, who was in the process of performing her European leg of her Nothing but Love World Tour, initially planned to fly from Birmingham International Airport to Dublin Airport, but was forced to travel by ferry from Holyhead on 15 April to her next venue in Ireland. She travelled by car from Birmingham to Holyhead and told her record company to publicise her new arrangements so fans would not fear cancellation.

Irish Ferries also reported accommodating rapper Dizzee Rascal and indie band Darwin Deez, and several WWE wrestlers after their flights to various performances were disrupted.

Dr. Hook's Dennis Locorriere had to postpone until September a solo concert at Belfast's Waterfront Hall after being unable to fly over from London.

Preparations for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 encountered minor delays. Introduction postcards, to appear in between each country's entry, are to be filmed in each country's respective capital city; however, the schedule of filming had to be altered so as to ensure each postcard could be filmed in time for the contest, to be held on 29 May.

Some British musical acts scheduled to perform at the 2010 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California, including Bad Lieutenant, Gary Numan, Delphic, Frightened Rabbit, Talvin Singh and The Cribs and the American group Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (who were touring in Europe) have encountered flight cancellations, jeopardizing their scheduled slots, all of them eventually cancelling their performances. The only Icelandic musician scheduled to perform at the festival, Jónsi Birgisson, left Iceland prior to the eruption.

British indie band Los Campesinos! – erroneously reported by some news outlets as a performer at Coachella - had to cancel their performance at the Culture Shock festival on the campus of SUNY Purchase as they were unable to get out of Britain due to the delays.

The New York Times wrote of the effect on opera, jazz and philharmonic concerts, with Carnegie Hall "suffer[ing] an immediate casualty" with the loss of a performance of the works of Louis Andriessen, whom it described as "the most prominent living composer from the Netherlands and a major figure in European music". Pianist Gerard Bouwhuis was trapped in Amsterdam and the Bang on a Can All-Stars were trapped in a Frankfurt hotel.

Many travelers headed to the In Qontrol event in Amsterdam could not make it to the event, leaving many empty places in the hall.

The Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists which is held in Oslo, Norway is also affected, it was scheduled to begin on 16 April but was postponed until 18 April due to traffic disruption.

Comedy

Irish stand-up comedian Dara Ó Briain was performing on the Isle of Man on 15 April when the volcano erupted. As a result, he was unable to fly out and he was forced to cancel a performance in Woking, England. He left the Isle of Man via the Mersey Ferry.

Sports

The flight disruptions also led to a number of sporting fixtures being postponed or cancelled as teams that had to fly to their fixture were not able to. The 2009–10 UEFA Champions League Semi-final first leg tie saw FC Barcelona undertaking a coach journey to Milan for their match with Inter Milan and also Lyon travelled by coach to Bayern Munich. Similarly in the 2009-10 UEFA Europa League both travelling teams, Liverpool F.C. and Fulham F.C. based in the United Kingdom, had to take alternate transport by coach, train and Eurostar to reach their opponent's grounds. The French rugby league teams competing in the Challenge Cup were also affected.

Notably the Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix, scheduled to be the 2nd round of the 2010 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was postponed until the 2nd October, as the majority of teams were unable to travel to the circuit from their European bases.

In rugby union, air travel disruption forced the postponment of a match between Switzerland and Lithuania in the third division of the European Nations Cup.

Formula One has seen cases of disruption. With all of the current teams operating out of Europe (McLaren, Renault F1, Mercedes GP, Force India, Red Bull Racing, Lotus Racing and Virgin Racing in the United Kingdom alone) many are concerned about whether they can get from the Chinese Grand Prix to their bases and onward to the Spanish Grand Prix with the inability to presently fly. It is estimated that the journey would take several weeks over land and even longer by ship. One commentator suggested that the teams could fly into Spain and continue on land from there. Some members of the media—such as Eddie Jordan—have been unable to fly out because their flight was booked for a time under the restrictions. The 2010 Spanish Grand Prix is at risk of being either cancelled or postponed.

Other sports events impacted include:

• Many of the teams at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship and World Senior Curling Championships are being delayed.
• Several cyclists who reside in Spain were unable to make it to the Amstel Gold Race, including favorites Alejandro Valverde and Luis León Sánchez.
• Douglas Williams who was to defend his TNA X Division Championship at the pay-per-view event Lockdown was unable to fly out of the United Kingdom. This resulted in Williams being stripped of his title.
• The Great Britain ice hockey team also had their World Championship game in Slovenia postponed by 4 hours so they could travel by coach
• The Boston Marathon took place without any of the many athletes who had been in the affected countries.
• Mixed martial arts fighter Jim Wallhead was also stuck in England and was therefore forced to withdraw from the Bellator season 2 welterweight tournament. Wallhead was due to fight just two days later, but could not travel to the U.S.
• The World Chess Championship could be delayed due to the current World Chess Champion Vishwanathan Anand being stranded in Frankfurt due to the cancellation of all flights. Anand has asked for a three day postponement.

Other

Fark's Drew Curtis has been stranded in Armenia following a joint Fark/Reddit meetup. The eruption impacted a record-breaking round-the-world flight led by Captain Riccardo Mortara. His private plane was due to land in Keflavik, Iceland, but with runways shut down was forced to abort at the last minute, costing his historic speed flight four to five hours.
The world premiere of the blockbuster movie Iron Man 2 was moved to Los Angeles from London.

Effect on the environment

The volcano released approximately 0.15 million tonnes of CO₂ each day, but the the massive reduction of air travel occurring over European skies caused by the ash cloud, saved an estimated 1.3 to 2.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere by 19 April 2010.

Residents of West London under the Heathrow Airport flight path have described the peace as 'bliss'. John Stewart of the Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise said they had been inundated with emails and phone calls and said "The message is that this is what life should be like. The peace and quiet is absolutely wonderful." Christine Shilling, of the No Third Runway Action Group, who lives in nearby Harmondsworth, said: "I've lived here more than 40 years and I've never known such peace." Jenny Tonge, president of HACAN Clearskies, life peer and former Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park in London said "Dare we hope that it will finally lay the Third Runway at Heathrow to rest and concentrate government minds on more environmentally friendly and sustainable forms of transport?"

External links

Ash from Iceland volcano could affect UK flights at Wikinews European airspace closed by volcanic ash at Wikinews Volcanic eruption starts on top of Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland at Wikinews Icelandic volcanic eruption prompts evacuation, flight diversions at Wikinews Europe's airline chaos: in depth at Wikinews