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Effects of the April 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Zoney (talk | contribs) at 20:32, 17 April 2010 (→‎Impact on other forms of transport: Add Irish details and amend ferry/Eurostar to reflect record solid bookings). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano on 14 April 2010 disrupted many events around 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 funeral of President of Poland Lech Kaczyński, killed on 10 April 2010 in the plane crash in Smolensk is also affected with the travel plans of some national leaders, including Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy, disrupted due to the ash plume.

Flight cancellations

Main article: Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption

Flights across the world were cancelled due to the airspace restrictions.

On 16 April, Irish airline Ryanair cancelled all flights to and from Britain, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, northern France, northern Germany, Italy, Poland and the Baltic states until midday Monday 19 April. The announcement was described as "the biggest yet on any European airline".[1]

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has estimated the airline industry worldwide loses £130 million ($200 million) a day because of the eruption.[2]

Disruption to political activity

Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin postponed a trip to Murmansk on 15 April due to the presence of the ash.[3]

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.[4]

Also, the President of Portugal, Cavaco Silva had to extend his state visit to the Czech Republic due to the volcanic ash. On Saturday it was announced that he will make his way back to Portugal by car. 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.[5]

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, while former Tory Chancellor Ken Clarke took a train but could not get to Hawick, so visited Perth instead.[6]

Funeral of Lech Kaczyński

Further information: [[:2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash]]

The funeral of President of Poland Lech Kaczyński, killed on 10 April 2010 in the plane crash in Smolensk was reported to be in doubt, with the travel plans of some national leaders, including Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy, disrupted due to the ash plume.[7] Presidential aide Jacek Sasin said a postponement until later that day or even the following day was a "very serious alternative".[7] It was later announced that according to the wish of the president's family the funeral will take place on 18 April 2010. As of 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.[8] The arrival of other heads of state remains uncertain.

Impact on other events

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.[9][10]

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.[11]

Arts

The ash pume has been reported to have had devastating affects on the arts worldwide, with multiple articles detailing the chaos and cancellations, from the Daily Mail to The New York Times.[12]

One of the early widely reported incidents was the plight of 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.[13][12] He had been appearing on Skavlan and hoped to catch the Eurostar in order be back home in London by 17 April.[13] He told Norway's TV2 before embarking on the epic journey: "It will be interesting. I'm not in a hurry".[14] The 1,500 kilometre journey lasted around 15 hours, and Cleese passed Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium during his voyage.[15]

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.[16] She travelled by car from Birmingham to Holyhead and told her record company to publicise her new arrangements so fans would not fear cancellation.[15][17][18]

Irish Ferries also reported accomodating tenor Russell Watson, rapper Dizzee Rascal and several WWE wrestlers after their flights to various performances were disrupted, though Watson declined as he would only have had twenty minutes to prepare and his performance did not take place.[18][15]

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.[18]

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, Los Campesinos! and The Cribs have encountered flight cancellations, jeopardizing their scheduled slots, with The Cribs, Frightened Rabbit, Bad Lieutenant and Delphic being forced to cancel.[19][20][21][12] The only Icelandic musician scheduled to perform at the festival, Jónsi Birgisson, left Iceland prior to the eruption.[20]

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, who it described as "the most prominent living composer from the Netherlands and a major figure in European music".[12] A pianist Gerard Bouwhuis was trapped in Amsterdam and the Bang on a Can All-Stars were trapped in a Frankfurt hotel.[12]

The London Book Fair will also be affected.[12]

Fark's Drew Curtis has been stranded in Armenia following a joint Fark/Reddit meetup. [22]

Sports

Sports teams were also affected, including French rugby league teams competing in the Challenge Cup and the British team participating in the ice hockey World Championships in Slovenia, who changed their plans from air to bus and train.[23] The situation is uncertain as the duration of the plume cannot be predicted; events are being postponed or cancelled.[24]

Tennis player Andy Murray has tweeted: "Volcano news... we're all in a van driving to Barcelona for training".[13]

Golfer Rory McIlroy was photographed boarding a ferry from Ireland to Stranraer.[18]

Formula One pundit Eddie Jordan was unable to fly out to the Chinese Grand Prix. He was due to commentate on the race for BBC Sport.[25]

Other BBC sports personnel effected 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 wasn't 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 Pierce (he drove from France to be in England for the football on 17 April).[26]

Many of the teams at the 2010 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship and 2010 World Senior Curling Championships are being delayed. [27]

Several cyclists who reside in Spain were unable to make it to the 2010 Amstel Gold Race, including favorites Alejandro Valverde and Luis León Sánchez.[28]

Impact on other forms of transport

Cancellation of European flights is causing a considerable switch to other modes of transport:

  • Within Europe, a great many people are trying to reach their destination by train instead of aircraft. Train companies report a remarkable increase in passenger numbers and suggest that prospective passengers should make reservations beforehand.[29]
  • Most UK and Irish ferry routes are exceptionally busy.
  • In addition, the Eurostar passenger trains and the Eurotunnel car-carrying trains which run through the Channel Tunnel have been solidly booked, and extra trains are scheduled to run while the disruption of air travel continues.
  • Irish coach operator Bus Éireann have arranged extra Eurolines services between Ireland and England via ferry.

References

  1. ^ Ash makes Ryanair cancel flights until Monday. Forbes. 16 April 2010.
  2. ^ Wearden, Graeme (16 April 2010). "Ash cloud costing airlines £130m a day". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
  3. ^ Iceland volcano causes flight chaos. Al Jazeera. 15 April 2010.
  4. ^ Buan, Vibeke, (16 April 2010). "Statsministeren i bil fra Sveits". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 17 April 2010.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ http://tv1.rtp.pt/noticias/index.php?t=Segundo-dia-de-caos-aereo-no-Continente-Europeu.rtp&article=336807&layout=10&visual=3&tm=8 Retrieved 4-16-10
  6. ^ McGivern, Mark. Icelandic volcano could bring chaos to British skies for a YEAR. Daily Record. 16 April 2010.
  7. ^ a b Boyes, Roger. Funeral of Polish president Lech Kaczynski faces delay over ash cloud. The Times. 16 April 2010.
  8. ^ Robin, Henry. Poland marks minute of president's plane crash. The Times. 17 April 2010.
  9. ^ Volcanic eruption clouds Danish queen's birthday. 15 April 2010.
  10. ^ Vulkaan verstoort koninklijk feest (Dutch) 15 April 2010.
  11. ^ [1]. FOCUS Online. 16 April 2010.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Whitney Houston, John Cleese, Coachella, Opera & More: How The Volcanic Ash Has Affected Entertainment. Huffington Post. 17 April 2010.
  13. ^ a b c Erskine, Carrole. Taxi For Cleese: Stranded Star's 30,000 Krone Fare. Sky News. 16 April 2010. Cite error: The named reference "skynewsjohncleese" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cleese splashes out on taxi journey. RTÉ. 16 April 2010.
  15. ^ a b c O'Brien, Tim. Disruption forces Houston on to ferry and Cleese into cab. The Irish Times. 17 April 2010.
  16. ^ City airport shut until Sunday. BBC News. 17 April 2010.
  17. ^ Whitney on ferry as tour continues. Irish Independent. 16 April 2010.
  18. ^ a b c d Show goes on as stars ditch A-list trappings. The Belfast Telegraph. 17 April 2010.
  19. ^ British bands' Coachella Festival slots in doubt as volcanic ash shuts UK airports . NME. 15 April 2010.
  20. ^ a b Icelandic Volcano Casts a Shadow Over Indio, Calif. The New York Times: Artsbeat. 15 April 2010
  21. ^ Volcano Forces Coachella Cancellations. Pitchfork Media. 16 April 2010.
  22. ^ Drew Curtis Stranded in Armenia. Twitter 16 April 2010
  23. ^ Sport hit by volcanic ash cloud from Iceland. BBC. 15 April 2010.
  24. ^ Icelandic volcano puts Challenge Cup fixtures at risk. The Guardian. 15 April 2010.
  25. ^ Eason, Kevin (17 April 2010). "Lewis Hamilton quick to shrug off rivals' anger". The Times. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
  26. ^ Todd, Ben. John Cleese takes a £3,000 taxi and Gary Lineker's marathon trip to make Match of the Day as flight ban hits the stars. Daily Mail. 17 April 2010.
  27. ^ World Seniors and World Mixed Doubles gets underway this weekend
  28. ^ http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/valverde-sanchez-miss-amstel-gold-due-to-volcano-eyjafjallajokull
  29. ^ "Bahnverkehrsinformationen". Retrieved 17. April 2010. Die SBB bittet alle Reisenden im internationalen Verkehr, zwingend eine Sitzplatzreservierung vorzunehmen. Die SBB rät allen Reisenden ohne gültige internationale Sitzplatzreservierung von einer Reise ab. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
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