Easyjet has announced they will be fitting equipment to some of their aircraft to trial an ash detection system. Using infra-red the equipment reportedly detects ash particles in a similar way as radars detect water.

Since the major complaint, by airlines and regulatory authorities alike, was the lack of data during the Eyjafjallajokul eruption’s European airspace closures, this is hopefully a great step in improving air safety.

Over half of BA’s flights are operating in the latest round of cabin crew strikes – 24 to 28 May, with more strikes due 30 May to 3 June and 5 to 9 June. Thus the impact on flyers hasn’t been as bad as it could have been, but nonetheless disruptive to the travel plans of thousands.

So I’m wondering if I’m doing the right thing by booking more British Airways flights for later this year. Surely the strike (and Iceland volcanic eruption) will be over by December? My recent track record hasn’t been great. Each of the last couple of trips which include BA flights, and the next one, fell/fall on strike dates.

Has the lengthy dispute affected your willingness to fly BA?

Parts of Europe continue to have intermittent airspace closures due to ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption. 

The UK met office has handy 5 day forecast maps of ash density over Europe and northern Atlantic Ocean which is helpful for travel planning. 

Note the forecasts do not allow for future changes in eruption intensity (which are unknown) and do not forecast airspace closures since those decisions are made by aviation authorities.

As each day of massive disruption to travel to, from and across much of Europe passes and the economic burden keeps climbing (now in billions of euros), there has been mounting pressure on politicians and regulators to reopen skies.

One example is the UK authorities apparently were forced to allow overflights over UK above 20,000 feet despite their own concerns about safety (they ruled UK airlines could not overfly closed UK airspace, only non-UK airlines).  This opening up of higher altitude airspace obviously helps continental airlines whose own regulators have opened up (or partially opened) their own airspace.  But if the ash concentrations are high enough at lower levels in UK and neighbouring countries, there may be a risk of engine damage to aircraft that then subsequently overfly UK.   This isn’t just a theoretical risk – there have been reports of at least 3 incidents of some ash damage in aircraft over Europe in the past few days even with such limited flights as there have been.

If that aircraft then had difficulties (perhaps unrelated), how can it safely land if it has to descend through airspace that is closed due to the ash cloud? There is an inconsistency here in the approach taken by UK authorities and some of those based in continental EU.

The last few days have seen a number of European airlines undertake publicity stunts – so called test flights.  The flights undertaken provide limited data because there is evidence that ash concentrations vary considerably over even short distances, and winds mean a “clear” path flown by one aircraft may not be clear if flown by other aircraft at a later time.

Why this is a big problem is that unlike thunderstorms which can be detected by radar, ash cannot be seen except in high concentrations in daylight – by the time an unseen ash clump damages engines it may be too late to do anything about it.

Today British Airways went one step further by flying about a dozen longhaul flights to London despite the authorities having advised the airspace is closed until (at least) several hours after the flights were due to arrive. With most other nearby countries also having closed airspace and airports not accepting diversions this approach seems reckless to my naive view. Indeed some of these aircraft spent considerable time flying circles at high altitude at various places around UK as if waiting for clearance to land.

The latest news is that Lord Adonis, Transport Secretary, has just announced that UK airports will reopen at 10pm tonight local time (source BBC).

If it is a case of politicians, or regulators, being encouraged to weigh economic factors instead of safety ones, that is very concerning. I hope that is not the case here, and I also hope there is no trajedy.

Much of Northern and Western Europe airspace is again closed, for the fourth day running, as the ash cloud slowly drifts south and east.  Current eruptions are not lifting ash high enough to affect continental European airspace, so these effects are from material ejected a few days ago.  Assuming the Eyjafjallajokull volcano continues to slowly quieten, flights are anticipated to resume in a few days time.

In the meantime, millions of people have had their travel disrupted. Airlines, land transport and accommodation are being affected worldwide. Once the ash clears it will take several days at least to clear the backlog of passengers.

As posted previously, a volcanic eruption is an “act of god” and thus airlines are not liable to provide compensation. However in some jurisdications (such as EU regulation 261/2004 for EU-based airlines and all flights from EU), airlines may be responsible for duty of care (ie providing accommodation for stranded passengers).  Travel insurance should also help out, as long as it was purchased before 14 April 2010.

Flying with Fish has a nice recap of why volcanic ash is so dangerous to aircraft.  Here in the Pacific frequent flyers are somewhat used to cancellations or route detours to avoid ash clouds – especially around Indonesia but also throughout the “ring of fire”. In Europe it is more unusual.

The impact on flights from the Iceland eruption is becoming widespread as the ash cloud spreads.  Reykjavik in Iceland remains open but much of Northern Europe is affected or is expected to be over the next day or so.

Currently airspace is closed in Ireland, UK, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, France.  Neighbouring countries from Spain through to Russia are also being affected.

This can change with the winds and developments in the eruption, so if you are travelling to or through Europe in the next few days at least keep an eye out for disruptions.  While airline compensation does not apply due to “act of god”, airlines still have a duty of care responsibility to travellers (eg EU 261/2004 covers accommodation for affected passengers).

For those who haven’t yet commenced their trip, most airlines are allowing free date changes.

Edited to add – links to airline specific news and information as posted on Flyer Talk can be found here.