On the 14th April 2010 something big erupted in the travel industry, or as one of our clients called it: an ashtrocity! The Icelandic volcano, called Eyjafjallajökull, ejected volcanic ash to heights in excess of 30,000ft and few could have predicted the chaos and millions of pounds it would cost the travel industry and the economy.
With huge amounts of ash in the atmosphere, controlled airspace in the UK was shut down for fear of damage to the aircraft engines. By the 17th April, there was a no fly zone in the airspace of more than 25 countries. This resulted in the largest air traffic shut-down since World War II and caused millions of passengers to be stranded not only in Europe, but across the world.
Airspace was closed for six days; a decision which was later criticised by most airlines who were suffering huge financial losses.
According to Giovanni Bisignani, the Director General of The Air Transport Association, the ash crisis cost the airline industry up to £130 million a day in lost revenue and more than £500 million to the economy. Bisignnai was very critical of the delay to reopen airspace, citing unnecessary delay.
The EU transport President disagreed, saying that “This situation is causing them important losses but safety is paramount”
The ash crisis not only had a major impact on the airlines but hoteliers had to deal with stranded passengers, airport parking centers had immovable cars with more travellers arriving at the airports every day. Furthermore, the crisis struck over the Easter holidays which meant many teachers and pupils were stranded abroad and school closures were threatened.
Our very own Travel Account Director, Rachel Krish was stranded for 8 days in Charlotte, South Carolina on return from her honeymoon. Fortunately on the return flight she was upgraded to 1st class so it wasn’t all that bad!
Other forms of transport such as trains, buses and ferries struggled to support the sudden demand for their services, as over one million stranded travellers desperately tried to make their way home.
On a positive note there were some environmental advantages. You may have noticed a reduction in noise pollution and more significantly, 1.3 to 2.8 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions were saved due to the flying bans.
Due to the nature of our industry, the Propellernet travel team were quick to hear of the continued disruption through our private Twitter feed which follows, and is followed by influential travel journalists, bloggers and news sources.
Since then the ash has come, gone and returned a couple of times! During these tough times we’ve supported travel clients such as Sovereign, Mark Warner, Low Cost Holidays and APH by sending out their news releases to our online travel contacts. We’ve published updates using online newswires, tweeted their ash guarantees and also recommended our clients update their websites to let customers know how the ash crisis may affect current or future travel plans.
As I’m writing this I’m waiting to fly back from New York so I just hope the volcano stays dormant - at least until I’ve touched down at Heathrow!