Author: By Rob Hastings
London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports were the latest hubs affected by a
rapidly-spreading no-fly zone that saw all flights from both airports
grounded until at least 7am today.
With the volcanic ash spreading south east from Iceland, the controversial
measures imposed by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had earlier effected
numerous hubs in Northern Ireland and the UK including Manchester,
Liverpool, Carlisle, Doncaster, Humberside and East Midlands airports.
Critics included Virgin Atlantic president, Sir Richard Branson, who branded
the closure of Manchester “beyond a joke”, and joined British
Airways in attacking the restrictions imposed by the CAA.
Airlines are still coming to terms with the havoc caused by the five-day ban
on flights imposed across Europe last month. It is thought to have cost the
industry at least £1.15bn.
Sir Richard said: “All the test flights by airlines, aircraft and engine
manufacturers have shown no evidence that airlines could not continue to fly
completely safely. It is obviously dangerous to fly through the mouth of a
volcano. But the volcano is hundreds of miles away from the UK. More than
1,000 flights took off from France last week in similar conditions to that
which exist in Manchester today without encountering any problems or showing
any levels of ash concentration.”
But British Airways, who is set to appeal to the high court for an injunction
against a proposed 20-day cabin crew strike starting tomorrow, the
restrictions only served to compound its problems. The airline is set for
face-to-face talks with Unite trade union this afternoon.
Yesterday the airline described the CAA’s regulations as “overly
restrictive” and “not justified”. A spokesman said it had “no
confidence” in the theoretical model used to assess the spread of ash.
He said: “The airline industry has a great deal of experience in
dealing safely with the potential risk posed by volcanic ash.
“British Airways has operated for many years in areas of volcanic
activity, and we believe airlines are best placed to take the final
decisions on whether or not it is safe to fly. Safety will always be our
over-riding priority.” But the CAA expressed surprise at the comments,
saying airlines had backed the present system of regulations at a major
industry conference on the subject only last week. A spokesman said: “[Sir
Richard] is giving the indication it’s for Government and regulators to do
something. But we can’t do that; we don’t have test facilities, we don’t
operate these engines.
“We need the airlines and the manufacturers to work together to provide
us with evidence engines can take a higher level of ash. Until they come
back to us with a new figure there’s nothing we can do. We as a regulator
can’t turn round and say, ‘Oh, I’m sure it will be safe, go on’.”
The previous ban on flights ended when the CAA upped its safety threshold of
volcanic ash from zero to 0.002g per cubic metre of air. A Met Office
spokesman, Barry Gromett, said favourable conditions mean the restrictions
should be “much shorter than last time”, with prevailing
south-westerly winds expected to have blown the ash away from the UK by
Wednesday.
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