Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption

Approximate depiction of the ash cloud at 18:00 UTC on 17 April 2010. The current forecasts were updated at the London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre's website (Met Office, UK).

Closed airspace (red) and partially closed airspace (orange) on 18 April 2010. Iceland's airspace remained relatively unaffected.

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.

The second eruption of Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland on 14 April 2010 caused extensive air travel disruption across large parts of Europe. In response to fears that particles ejected by the volcano into standard flight corridors could damage aircraft engines, the airspace of many countries was closed, stranding millions of travellers. It was the largest air traffic shut-down since World War II.

The eruption occurred beneath glacial ice, and the cold water from melting ice chilled the lava quickly, causing it to fragment into glass, creating small glass particles that were carried into the eruption plume. This, together with the magnitude of the eruption, sent a glass-rich plume hazardous to aircraft into the upper atmosphere. The presence and location of the plume depended upon the state of the eruption and the winds. Due to the way air-masses function, the plumes tended to be injected into the jet stream.

With large parts of European airspace closed to air traffic, many more countries were affected as flights to and from Europe were cancelled.

As of 17 April 2010, the eruption was continuing, but less explosively; the plume was rising to 5 kilometres (3 mi) rather than 13 kilometres (8 mi) previously; not high enough to travel across Europe. The forecast for 18 April at 06:00 showed a significant plume continuing over northern Europe. At 20:00 UTC on 16 April the ash cloud reached Kazakhstan. Jet stream forecasts indicated the ash cloud plume would persist until at least 21 April, shifting to the south and affecting more southerly parts of France and Italy.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated that the airline industry worldwide would lose €148 million (US$200 million, £130 million) a day during the disruption.

Background

The London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) was responsible for providing information about the ash plume to the relevant civil aviation authorities. On the basis of this, the authorities made decisions about when and where airspace should be closed due to the safety issues. Their decisions resulted in the cancellations of flights at airports across the world, not only in those countries where airspace was restricted. On 16 April 2010, 16,000 of Europe's usual 28,000 daily flights were cancelled and on the 17 April, 16,000 of the usual 22,000 flights were cancelled.

As of 18th April, 63,000 flights had been cancelled.

Prior to this, the most severe restrictions to air travel in recent times were following the attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States when all civil air traffic in US airspace, and to and from the United States, was grounded for three days. The Eyjafjallajökull eruption grounded most air traffic with and within northern Europe from 15 April 2010, and there was no expectation of a return to normality before 19 April.

Professor Bill McGuire of the Aon Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre said on 15 April that the most notable eruption of the Icelandic volcano which occurred in 1783, would, if it occurred today "have the potential to severely affect air travel at high northern latitudes for six months or more". The last time the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in 1821, it spewed ash for over a year. Geophysicists in Iceland said that the production of ash from Eyjafjallajökull was likely to continue at a comparable level for some days or even weeks; a geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office said, "Where it disrupts travel depends on the weather. It depends how the wind carries the ash".

Although dangerous for planes, the plume was not expected to cause significant health problems in the United Kingdom, Belgium or Netherlands, but did provide spectacular red sunsets.

Attempts to reopen airspace

There were brief windows free of the cloud at any given location which were exploited to make a few aircraft movements. On 16 April a 30-minute break at Manchester allowed two flights to land, and one aircraft to be moved to Florida – empty; there was no time for passengers to board – ready to bring stranded holidaymakers back. At Glasgow, an Air Transat flight to Toronto took off while a British Airways flight from New York and a Thomas Cook flight from Orlando landed.

On 17 April 2010, the president of German airline Air Berlin, in an interview with the newspaper Bild am Sonntag, stated that the risks for flights due to this volcanic haze were nonexistent, because the assessment was based only on a computer simulation produced by the VAAC. He went on to claim that the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt closed German airspace without checking the accuracy of these simulations. Spokesmen for Lufthansa and KLM stated that during their test flights, required by the European Union, there were no problems with the aircraft.

On the morning of 17 April Lufthansa moved 10 aircraft from Munich to Frankfurt at low altitude following visual flight rules. There were no problems reported and no sign of damage to the planes. On the morning of 18 April KLM successfully carried out a test flight from Amsterdam to Düsseldorf with no problems. Afterwards, seven KLM planes with no passengers returned from Düsseldorf to Amsterdam. Air France also performed a test flight from Paris to Toulouse.

The vice president of the Dutch pilots union said "We are asking the authorities to really have a good look at the situation, because 100 per cent safety does not exist," Mr Verhagen continued. "It's easy to close down air space because then it's perfectly safe, but at some time you have to resume flights."

On 18 April, British Ministers announced a plan for flights to land and take off in Spain, and to transport passengers by boat to the United Kingdom.

Airspace closures

Austria	On 16 April 2010, Austro Control ceased air activities at airports in both Vienna and Linz; Salzburg and Innsbruck stopped flights at 18:00 UTC; and Graz and Klagenfurt followed at 21:00 UTC. At 00:30 on 18 April, all Austrian airports were closed until 18:00.
Belarus	On Saturday 17 April, the airspace over Belarus was closed.
Belgium	Belgium's airspace closed at 14:30 UTC on 15 April. It would remain closed until 06:00 UTC on Monday 19 April at least.
Bosnia and Herzegovina	The airspace over Bosnia and Herzegovina was closed to traffic from 08:00  (06:00 UTC) until midnight (22:00 UTC) on 17 April.
Bulgaria	On Sunday 18 April, all Bulgarian airports were closed. However, at 14:00 local time the airports in Sofia and Plovdiv were open.
Croatia	At 02:00 CET on 17 April, the air space over northern Croatia was closed, including Zagreb. At 08:00 CET the airports at Pula, Rijeka, Zadar and Lošinj were closed.
Czech Republic	On 16 April Czech airspace was closed, after partial closure forced some aircraft to land at Brno. Czech airspace would remain closed at least until 12:00 on 19 April. During 16 April, approximately 400 flights to and from Prague were cancelled.
Denmark	Naviair, the state-owned company controlling Danish airspace, announced that Denmark's airspace would close at 16:00 UTC on 15 April. The 70th birthday celebration of Queen Margrethe II was affected; several European royals were invited, but had to cancel because of the disruption.
Estonia	On 15 April Estonian Air flights from Tallinn to Oslo, Copenhagen and London were cancelled due to airspace closures in Norway, Denmark and the United Kingdom. As the ash cloud spread over Estonia on the night of 16 April, most flights were cancelled. All flights from Tallinn were cancelled until at least 12:00 UTC (15:00 local time) on 19 April.
Finland	Finland closed its airspace at 00:00 UTC+03 on 16 April, having previously closed northern, western and central parts of its airspace.
France	At 23:00 UTC+02 on 15 April, 24 airports, including Charles De Gaulle Airport were closed. On 17 April, the Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile extended the suspension to 35 airports, including all Paris airports, until 08:00 UTC+2 on Monday 19 April. On 18 April, the closure of the Paris airports was extended to at least 08:00 UTC+2 on Tuesday 20 April.
Germany	On 16 April, all international airports in Germany were closed. All airports were to remain closed until at least 12:00 UTC on Monday 19 April.
Hungary	Hungary's airspace was closed at 17:00 UTC on 16 April. It remained closed until at least 10:00 UTC on Monday 19 April.
Ireland	For information on disruption in Northern Ireland, see the United Kingdom section below. On 15 April 2010, the Irish Aviation Authority announced restrictions on flying in Irish airspace until 06:00 UTC+01 on Friday 16 April at the earliest: Siobhan Moore of Dublin Airport Authority described the event as "extraordinary" on the radio programme Today with Pat Kenny. Restrictions were lifted on flights to and from Cork, Shannon and some regional airports by the day's end but restrictions remained at Dublin until 11:00 UTC+1. The government's emergency planning taskforce, which included several government departments, An Garda Síochána, Met Éireann, the Irish Aviation Authority and Dublin Airport Authority, met on the evening of 15 April to discuss the emergency. On 16 April, Irish air space was reopened for domestic flights from 10:00 UTC+01 and westward transatlantic flights resumed from Dublin: Irish flights which were scheduled to fly eastwards over the United Kingdom and continental European airspace remained grounded. On 17 April, the ash spread to most of Ireland, and all airspace was closed until 18:00 UTC+01. The closure was subsequently extended until until 13:00 GMT+01 on Monday 19 April. A further announcement would be made at 09:00 on Monday 19 April.
Italy	Departures board in Rome Fiumicino's Terminal 1 on 18 April. Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione Civile closed the airspace over Northern Italy for 17 April, excluding emergency flights and flights flying over 35,000 feet (11,000 m), from 06:00 UTC+02 until 14:00 UTC+02. The closure was later extended to 08:00 UTC+02 on Monday 19 April. Over 198 flights at the Rome airports were cancelled, 436 at the Milan airports, 104 at Naples and 43 at Catania.
Kosovo	Kosovo closed its airspace at 00:00 UTC+02 on 18 April, cutting air access to Pristina. It was to reopen at 14:00 UTC+02 on 18 April.
Latvia	Latvian airspace was closed at 21:00 UTC on 15 April, cutting air access to Riga and other airports of local significance. It was to remain closed until at least 12:00 UTC on 18 April, but would probably remain closed until 22 April.
Luxembourg	Luxembourg Airport was closed for virtually all flights on 16 April 2010 and remained closed at least until the evening of 18 April.
Montenegro	The Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency, shut down all traffic over Montenegro, at 14:00 UTC on 17 April.
Netherlands	Dutch airspace closed at 17:00 UTC on 15 April. and was to remain closed until at least 20:00 UTC on 18 April.
Norway	Air travel was suspended from 14 April. Airports throughout Nord-Trøndelag, Nordland, Troms and Finnmark were re-opened at times, as those areas were least affected by the ash: the largest of these, Trondheim, was opened for six hours on 16 April. However, it and the other four largest airports in Norway, Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger and Sandefjord, remained closed by 13:00 UTC on 17 April. The total closure of Norwegian airspace included the 21 search and rescue and medical aircraft and helicopters in the country. The health authorities stated that the challenges faced were unprecedented in modern history, and ambulances and medical personnel were moved north and out of cities to decentralise the service and replace the lost aerial transport.
Poland	Poland closed the northern part of its airspace at 18:00 UTC on 15 April. On 16 April its whole airspace was shut down. The disruption affected the funeral for the Polish president Lech Kaczyński, his wife Maria and the other victims who died in a air crash earlier in April 2010. Family members decided not to postpone the ceremony, resulting in other countries' dignitaries being unable to attend.
Romania	Romania closed the north western part of its airspace at 00:00 local time (UTC+03) on 17 April, including Oradea, Satu Mare, Baia Mare, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, and Timişoara airports. The two Bucharest airports were also closed. Romania's entire airspace closed at 18:00 local time (UTC+03) on 17 April until at least 12:00 on 19 April.
Serbia	The Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Services Agency, shut down all traffic over Serbia at 14:00 UTC on 17 April.
Slovakia	Slovakia's airspace was closed at 15:00 UTC on 16 April.
Slovenia	The Transport Ministry closed the airspace to the north of the 46th parallel up to 35,500 feet (10,800 m) at 22:00 UTC+1 on 16 April, and over the entire country at 06:00 UTC+1 on 17 April. The closure was planned to last until 01:00 UTC+1 on 19 April. It was the first closure of Slovenian airspace since the Ten-Day War.
Spain	Aena closed seven airports in northern Spain at 20:00 UTC+1 on 17 April: they were planned to remain closed until 10:00 on 18 April, but one hour later, at 21:00 UTC+1 they started to operate again. At 08:30 UTC+1 on 18 April 11 northern airports were closed, including Barcelona, the country's second largest. At 12:00 UTC+1 two more airports in the Balearic Islands were closed, including spain's third largest Palma de Mallorca. All 13 airports were expected to reopen at 20:00 UTC+1 on 18 April. Other minor airports, not controlled by Aena, were closed as well, although it was thought they could be re-opened at 15:30 UTC+1.
Sweden	Sweden's airspace was closed at 20:00 UTC on 15 April. Airspace north of Söderhamn was reopened at 16:45 CEST on 18 April.
Switzerland	The Federal Office of Civil Aviation issued a notice to airmen at 14:15 UTC on 16 April stating that the FIR Switzerland would be closed for visual and instrument flight rules operations from 21:59 UTC on 16 April to 12:00 UTC on 19 April. Police, SAR and emergency medical helicopter flights were exempted. Swiss International Air Lines informed its customers on 16 April that the airports at Zurich, Basel, Geneva and Lugano airports would be closed, and that all flights going to those airports would be cancelled. Some minor airports, such as Ambri, were closed.
Ukraine	The Ministry of Transport closed most national air zones by 00:00 UTC+3 on 17 April: only southern airports remained open. Aircraft from Egypt and Thailand, bound for Kiev, landed at Simferopol. All Ukrainian airspace was closed by 15:00 EEST on 17 April.
United Kingdom	Numerous grounded planes at Edinburgh Airport on 15 April. Arrivals board in Heathrow's Terminal 5 on 16 April. Scotland was the third region in Europe, after Iceland and Norway, to be affected, with all Scottish airports being closed to instrument flight rules (IFR) operations by 04:00 BST on 15 April. The United Kingdom's controlled airspace was closed to IFR flights at 11:00 UTC (12:00 BST) on 15 April. Plans to lift air traffic control restrictions from 19:00 BST on Friday 16 April over a large part of Scottish airspace, including Scottish airports, Shetland, Orkney and Northern Ireland, were revoked due to deteriorating conditions. However, later on Saturday 17 April, it was suggested that a few domestic flights would be able to take off from Scotland and Northern Ireland before 19:00 BST (18:00 UTC) on Saturday, although most aircraft would remain grounded. The restrictions on flights in British airspace were subsequently extended until 19:00 BST (18:00 UTC) on Monday 19 April. The ash was photographed over Shetland. A spokesperson for the Association of British Travel Agents said 'We estimate there could be as many as a million British people stranded abroad,' and it was reported that the United Kingdom would soon face shortages of fresh items that are normally shipped in by air. British tourists in Spain were told it would be at least ten days before they could get home, even if flights resumed soon. There have been no restriction on visual flight rules traffic. Royal Air Force search and rescue aircraft continued to operate as normal, as did flights between Newquay and the Isles of Scilly which operate in uncontrolled airspace at an altitude less than 3,000 feet (910 m). On 17 April it was reported that low levels of ash from the volcano had fallen across parts of Scotland, northern England, the English Midlands and the Thames Valley. The UK Health Protection Agency and the World Health Organisation recommended that people who witnessed any falling ash should stay indoors to prevent possible health problems. The last commercial flight to leave British airspace before the lockdown was imposed was a Thomson Airways flight at 11:25 BST (10:25 UTC) on 15 April from Cardiff to Sharm el-Sheikh. There remained no commercial airliners in British airspace until the morning of 16 April, when an Air Transat flight was given clearance to leave Glasgow for Toronto.

Impact on society

Main article: Aftermath of the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption

The ash affected millions of individuals and groups with travel plans within, to, or from Europe, including politicians, members of royal families, musicians and sports teams.

The most significant event disrupted was the funeral of Polish president Lech Kaczyński in Kraków on Sunday, 18 April 2010, which was to have been attended by 69 presidents, prime ministers, and other heads of states. Almost half of these, including Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, Stephen Harper and Nicolas Sarkozy were unable to travel to Poland because of the disrupted air traffic.

Effect on passengers

Five million travellers were stranded or unable to fly. The Association of British Travel Agents estimates there could be as many as a million British people stranded abroad. Disruption was said to be greater than that after the September 11 attacks.

Several thousand passengers were stranded in Asia. Thousands of Europe-bound passengers from Asia, the United States and Australia have been left stranded. Inside Brussels airport, 200 travellers from Bangladesh were trapped, unable to leave the building without a visa. Passengers from Kolkata headed for London on an Air India flight were diverted to Frankfurt, where they were unable to leave the airport, to be taken to hotels, because they did not have visas for Germany. A group of passengers from the United Kingdom were facing arrest in Delhi over a breach of immigration laws, because they left the airport without visas. Belarus, Serbia, Finland and Russia eased visa formalities for affected passengers. The disruption was expected to have a significant effect on schools across the United Kingdom: the eruption came at the end of the Easter Holidays and many pupils and teachers were among those stranded abroad.

The UK Border Agency announced on 17 April 2010 that it "would like to reassure travellers who have been unable to leave the UK and whose visas have now expired. We appreciate that this is due to exceptional circumstances beyond your control." Travellers in this situation were advised to retain evidence of travel arrangements that should have taken them from the United Kingdom before their visas expired.

Travel conditions in France were compounded by an ongoing rail strike affecting long-distance trains.

Effect on the military

On 15 April, five Finnish Air Force F-18 fighter jets on exercise flew into the ash cloud in northern Finland. Volcanic dust was found on the engines of three of the aircraft and a further inspection revealed extensive damage by melted glass deposits inside the combustion chamber of one of the engines. The engines were sent for disassembly and overhaul. As a result all unnecessary military flights were cancelled except for identification flights to enforce sovereign airspace. Meanwhile a BAE Hawk trainer with special equipment to sample the volcanic dust was being flown from the 41st squadron in Kauhava.

Royal Air Force flights to Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham were grounded, and the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence considered flying British casualties of the Afghan War to coalition countries.

Effect on the economy

There were growing fears about the transportation of food supplies and other essential goods. FedEx, DHL and other transport companies were grounded throughout much of Europe; FedEx cancelled more than 100 flights.

The airline industry was claimed to be losing an estimated $200 million a day, according to the International Air Transport Association.

See also

• British Airways Flight 9 - 1982, volcanic dust disrupted flight
• KLM Flight 867 - 1989, volcanic dust disrupted flight
• Eruption column

External links

• "Live: Volcanic cloud over Europe" updates on BBC News
• "The eruption that changed Iceland forever" - BBC News Magazine
• "List of airports shut down by volcano ash". The Globe and Mail. 16 April 2010.
• "UPDATED List of airports closed by volcano ash". News Provider. 17 April 2010.