EU emergency talks called on volcanic ash air chaos

EU emergency talks called on volcanic ash air chaos






EU transport ministers are to hold emergency talks by video conference on easing the air travel crisis caused by volcanic ash cloud in Europe's skies.
Sixty-three thousand flights have been cancelled in four days, with millions of passengers stranded worldwide. EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said: 'We cannot just wait until this ash cloud dissipates.' Airports and airlines question the need for curbs said to be costing airlines alone $200m (130m) a day. Much of northern Europe remains a no-fly zone with airspace closed, or partially closed, in more than 20 countries.
And the prospect of a return to normal air travel remains far from clear.
The Spanish Minister for Europe, Diego Lopez Garrido, had said on Sunday that up to half of the flights across Europe could operate on Monday.
He was speaking after talks with Eurocontrol, which co-ordinates air traffic control in 38 nations. It had recommended the current flight ban.
But Brian Flynn, deputy head of operations for Eurocontrol, told the BBC that while half of the European landmass could be clear of ash cloud, that did not mean half of the flights could go ahead.
The flight bans came amid fears that the ash - a mixture of glass, sand and rock particles - can seriously damage aircraft engines.
In another development, hundreds of thousands of Kenyans working in agriculture, the country's largest export sector, face economic uncertainty because of the flight bans.
Refrigerated stores at Nairobi airport and on farms are now completely full, and a huge amount of fresh flowers and vegetables destined for the European market in danger of perishing, the BBC's East Africa correspondent, Will Ross, reports.













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