ISRAEL: Flight disruption in Israel's Ben Gurion airport due to ash cloud over Europe

Record ID: 396303

  • Title: ISRAEL: Flight disruption in Israel's Ben Gurion airport due to ash cloud over Europe
  • Date: 18th April 2010
  • Summary: BEN GURION AIRPORT, ISRAEL (APRIL 17, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AIRPLANES STANDING AT ISRAEL'S BEN GURION AIRPORT SCORES OF PASSENGERS STANDING NEXT TO SCREENS SHOWING FLIGHT STATUS PASSENGERS LOOKING AT SCREEN MONITOR SHOWING THE STATUS 'CANCELLED' ON SCREEN VARIOUS OF PASSENGER LOOKING AT SCREEN MORE OF PASSENGERS AIRPORT WORKER SAYING TO PASSENGERS THAT EVERYTHI
  • Embargoed: 3rd May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Environment / Natural World,Travel / Tourism
  • Reuters ID: LVA9BWTON8GQ68JUFXUUMOZXR3R8
  • Story Text: Passengers stranded in Israel's national airport due to spreading of volcanic ash across Europe.
    Scores of Passengers in Israel's Ben Gurion airport were stranded on Saturday (April 17) as a volcanic ash cloud spread further over Europe.
    Europe's air travel chaos deepened on Saturday as the huge cloud continued spreading across the continent, halting nearly three in four flights and stranding thousands of passengers worldwide.
    Passengers in Ben Gurion airport were told to wait with their luggage as their flights were cancelled.
    "I'm on my way to Hong Kong. I'm a guide, with a group of 40 people. I came a little bit earlier to do check in but now I'm surprised to see that maybe the flight will be cancelled, even though it is to the east, not to the west, not to Europe," said passenger Itzik Ganin, a tour guide whose flight status was unclear.
    Airport workers spoke to the stranded passengers and asked them to wait patiently in the departures hall.
    Ben Gurion airport manager, Shmuel Kandel, told Reuters Television that due to the situation in Europe, almost 150 flights were cancelled.
    "Ben Gurion airport is ready to serve the airlines and the passengers coming and going out from Israel. Unfortunately, the situation in Europe right now caused a situation in Ben Gurion airport in which almost 150 flights with 30,000 passengers, were cancelled," Kandel said, and added: "The information we get right now from Eurocontrol (European aviation agency) is that this volcanic ash is not going to disappear very soon so we are expecting more delays and more flights cancelling during the next 24 hours."
    European aviation agency Eurocontrol said no landings or takeoffs were possible for civilian aircraft in most of northern and central Europe because of the cloud from an Icelandic volcano which was still erupting.
    It expected 6,000 flights in European airspace or 27.3 percent of the normal level for a Saturday. On Friday there were 10,400 flights, 35.9 percent of the usual number for that day.
    The plume that floated through the upper atmosphere, where it could wreak havoc on jet engines and airframes, is costing airlines more than $200 million a day and has thrown travel plans into disarray around the world.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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