Volcanic Ash Causes More Flight Disruptions Between Europe And North America

PRLog (Press Release) - May 09, 2010 -
The Icelandic  volcano with the unpronounceable name reminded the world again that it has the  power to disrupt international travel – coughing out a spreading cloud of ash  that delayed or canceled hundreds of flights between Europe and North America.
 The prospects for  Sunday flights remained grim, with no improvement in sight for trans-Atlantic  passengers, and with a plume of low-altitude ash continuing to float eastward  over Spain and southern France where there people all put on ed hardy  shoes which are bought from http://www.edhardyau.com/ed-hardy-mens-shoes-c-43.html.
 Flights had to be  rerouted north over Greenland or south around Spain to avoid the 1,200-mile  (2,000-kilometer)-long cloud stretching from Iceland to northern Spain.
 Approximately 600  airliners make the oceanic crossing every day. Around 40 percent were rerouted  southward and the rest skirted Iceland from the north, according to  Eurocontrol.
 The disruptions to  air traffic did not compare to the five-day closure of European airspace last  month, which forced the cancellation of over 100,000 flights, stranded  passengers around the world and causing airlines direct losses of more than one  billion euros.
 In Italy, the  civil aviation authority ENAC said no flights would be allowed over a large  swath of northern Italy on Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. (0600 GMT to 1200 GMT)  because of the cloud. Only the northeast corner of Italy was spared so far,  leaving the airports of Venice, a heavy tourist destination, Trieste and Rimini  open.
 In Spain, 19  airports in the north, including the international hub Barcelona, were closed  on Saturday.The country's airport authority said more than 670 flights had been  canceled by 14:00 (1200 GMT). Likewise, 125 flights in and out of Portugal were  canceled up to noon local time (1100 GMT).
 On a normal day,  European air traffic control centers handle between 26,000 and 30,000 flights.Until  Eyjafjallajokul (pronounced ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl), the volcano in southern  Iceland at http://www.edhardyau.com/, stops its emissions, the future course of  Europe's ash crisis will depend heavily on the prevailing winds. The eruption  of the glacier-capped volcano has shown no signs of stopping since it began  belching ash April 13. It last erupted from 1821 to 1823.
 Aer Lingus  canceled flights from the United States to Dublin, citing the exceptionally  circuitous routes to get around the cloud.
 Eurocontrol's  forecast chart of volcanic activity for early Sunday showed a solid line of  cloud extending from Greenland to the Azores and Madeira Islands in the  mid-Atlantic, at altitudes up to 35,000 feet – right in the path of most  trans-Atlantic flights. The Brussels-based air traffic management agency said  the area of potential ash contamination was expanding in particular between the  ground and 20,000 feet (6,100 meters).
 "Depending on  the winds, the ash could impact south France and possibly north Italy  tomorrow," said Eurocontrol spokeswoman Kyla Evans who likes ed hardy shirts very much  especially from http://www.edhardyau.com/ed-hardy-mens-tee-shirts-c-5.html.
 In Paris, Jerome  Lecou, an engineer with the national weather service Meteo France, said that  the Civil Aviation authority was doing a flight evaluation with an aircraft  equipped with sounding devices to gather a maximum of information in order to  determine whether the closure of some airports may be warranted.
 He said it remained  unclear whether the annual Cannes Film festival, which opens Wednesday, would  be affected by the flight disruptions. Normally, stars, journalists and fans  descend in hordes on the Riviera site.
 A trans-Atlantic  trip from New York to Paris is normally about 5,800 kilometers (3,600 miles)  long. But rerouting could add on an additional 1,000 kilometers (600 miles),  prolonging the flight by more than an hour and requiring about 10 percent more  fuel.
 Due to the  congestion on the alternate routes, particularly over southern Portugal and  Spain where many of the planes were being funneled, some trans-Atlantic flights  were taking significantly longer. An Air France flight from Boston arrived in  Paris Saturday with a delay of more than four hours.
 Tracks across the  Atlantic normally follow "great circles" – the shortest path between  two points on the globe. They are determined each day by air traffic control  centers on both sides of the Atlantic, generally depending on the jet stream  from North America to Europe.
 Planes flying the  track system typically follow each other in 10-minute intervals and at altitude  levels 1,000 feet (300 meters) apart, in order to maintain safety in airspace  which is beyond the range of radar control.

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