Icelandic Ash Leaves Air Travel In Shutdown Mode

For the first time in living memory, there is no-zone flying area in Britain, following the massive eruption of a previously dormant volcano in Iceland, which spread massive amounts of ash into the skyline.  For the past 48 hours, airports across the UK and Northern Europe have been turned into parking lots, with up to half a million people affected by this air travel lockdown, which has nothing to do for once, with human elements.

Airports have closed in Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and France, leaving many passengers stranded, furious about the lack of communication and sleeping on benches, rather than comfortable hotel or holiday apartment beds.  The air chaos has also had effects on other forms of transport, with EuroStar almost completely booked up and a high demand on the ferries too, with the port of Dover struggling to cope with the increased amounts of consumer traffic.

This sky lockdown has been caused due to volcanic ash from the volcano eruption, which has been erupting for nearly a month now, but nothing quite like what we’ve seen in recent days.  Plus, there are no signs of this eruption ending anytime soon.  All airports in the UK have shut until at least 2am tomorrow morning, and British Airways has now cancelled all flights out of Heathrow tomorrow.   Only minimal services coming out of Glasgow and Irish airports, as the ash cloud descends across the UK.  There have already been reports of ash falling to the ground in Northern Scotland, though the health risk is thought to be minimal.  It shouldn’t cause serious harm, but health warnings are urging everyone to take precautions. 

Neither recent industrial action, nor terrorism threats could do what the volcano 900 miles away has done, grounded air travel to a comprehensive halt.  Safety is the paramount concern here and it is simply not safe for planes to fly through the ash smoke – otherwise their engines will either fail, stall or shutdown.  The possible results would be cataclysmic to even think about it.  This is the biggest shutdown since 9/11, with over 4,000 flights cancelled and more heading that route as the weekend goes on. 

Travel industries have urged customers not to panic and try to understand what is happening here.  Some are complaining of a lack of information, which is perfectly understandable and the disruption is likely to continue into next week as well.  With the snowstorms of the start in the year, plus the recent British Airways strikes and the threatened rail strikes, 2010 is turning into a miserable year for the travel industry.

Rail Strike Looms - More Easter Misery On The Way

Yesterday, it was announced that a national rail strike would take place after the Easter weekend, which would cause more travel chaos for families planning to get away for a break, and for commuters who will be working through the mess.  The first national rail stoppage since 1994 will begin on Tuesday 6^th April, and run for four days, unless talks are successful between Union leaders and the government in preventing more headaches for many…

This stems from the members of the RMT union, all maintenance workers and signallers, with 54% voting in favour of a strike.  Although yesterday’s news was slightly better, as initial signs had been that a strike would begin on April 1^st, which is scant consolation for the mayhem is set for cause.  The leader of the RMT, Bob Crow announced the strike yesterday and has urged the government to start talking to and to take this threat seriously. 

For Gordon Brown, this threatens to be a complete disaster, compounded by the recent British Airways cabin crew strikes, with more planned this week.  The April 6^th strike date is exactly the same day it is expected that Brown will see the Queen to call a General Election for May 6^th.  Consequently, this is the last thing he needs and if I was a major player in Mr. Brown’s affairs, I would try to get him to delay the date, especially with this latest crisis set to emerge.

Like the BA situation, it’s a cutting issue that has led to the trouble.  The company’s regulator wants efficiency savings of 21%.  Network Rail’s cost-cutting measures could have significant impact, as 1,500 maintenance jobs are set to be lost and signallers could be asked to do some of the jobs that maintenance workers do now, which could be seen as inadequate to say the least.  The dangers of slipping back to the bad times of the 1990’s, with the demise of InterCity, the nationalisation of British Rail and the doomed Railtrack era loom very large indeed.   

The Highways Agency is prepared for the upcoming strike and has announced plans to lift as many roadwork’s as possible, in an attempt to ease congestion.  Network Rail is confident of running a solid timetable during the strike, though I think this more of an optimistic and positive prediction, than a realistic one.  It is now up to the Unions and the Transport secretary Lord Adonis to bang their heads together and prevent this strike from happening; otherwise the losers once again will be the tens of thousands of travellers, whose Easter business and leisure time look set to be disrupted even further.