Global General
European skies open but airline schedules scrambled
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-04-22 03:38
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 Boeing 747 aircraft belonging to Thai Airways and Japan Airlines are parking on the tarmac near the control tower at Frankfurt Airport April 21, 2010. [Agencies] |
"In the absence of reliable facts, the only thing to do was to stop aircraft from flying, given the risk to planes of suffering serious engine damage, perhaps crashing," Goudru, who is also president of the European Volcanological Society, told a news conference in Geneva.
"This was not an overreaction. We...do not know enough about these clouds and what can happen to planes flying into them."
The progressive reopening offered stranded passengers and the airline industry some relief, but timetables are wrecked.
"To get back to normal levels of operation from an industry point of view will take weeks," British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh told BBC television.
