Passengers arrive from Vancouver at Heathrow Airport in London on the first flight to arrive after the shutdown caused by volcanic ash.SUZANNE PLUNKETT
Plans to unclog the skies over Europe by this weekend are getting a boost as London's Heathrow Airport finally reopens, though the airline industry is complaining bitterly that European Union authorities responded much too slowly to the crisis over volcanic ash.
A British Airways plane from Vancouver landed late Tuesday night at Heathrow, marking the long-awaited return of flights at the terminal, Europe's busiest for international traffic. The Boeing 747 jumbo jet travelled from Vancouver to London, according to tracking service FlightAware.
Other jets tried earlier Tuesday to land in London, only to be diverted elsewhere. But British Airways Flight BA84 lucked out as it touched down just minutes after aviation authorities gave the go-ahead to reopen Heathrow - the first takeoff or landing at the terminal since April 15.
British Airways chief executive officer Willie Walsh criticized authorities for dragging their feet before reacting to "extraordinary circumstances" of thousands of passengers stranded due to flight bans arising from Iceland's volcanic ash, which scientists say poses a catastrophic threat to jet engines.
German carrier Lufthansa added that it will be overseeing its own measurements of volcanic ash in the atmosphere.
Air traffic agency Eurocontrol said carriers operated roughly half of Europe's scheduled flights Tuesday, a vast improvement after five days of no-fly rules across much of the continent. Eurocontrol said about 75 per cent of flights will operate on Wednesday -- 21,000 flights, compared with about 28,000 that would normally be scheduled.
Aircraft now flying above Europe (map)
A decision by aviation authorities to shrink the no-fly zone to areas closest to the volcano resulted in a surge of flights in France and Italy, for instance, but Heathrow and other major British terminals stayed closed for most of Tuesday for the sixth consecutive day.
The International Air Transport Association estimated on Monday that 750,000 people had been stranded and about seven million people worldwide had their travel plans disrupted because of flight cancellations since April 15.
Only one-fifth of scheduled flights over Europe took place last weekend, but with Britain getting clearance Tuesday night to reopen its skies, this weekend could see the restoration of a large majority of the aviation schedule. Still, with planes in tight supply, it could take weeks to clear the backlog of grounded travellers.
Jean-Marc Eustache, chief executive officer of tour operator Transat A.T. Inc., said consumer bookings have been holding up so far for European holidays this spring and summer, despite the publicity over the virtual shutdown of airspace.
While Air Canada is estimated to have forgone up to $5-million a day in revenue during the crisis, Montreal-based Transat has been fortunate because it's running only a handful of daily flights to Europe in April, he said.
The chaos of the past week from Iceland's volcanic ash has yet to scare consumers away - Canadians looking to fly to Europe or Europeans seeking Canadian vacations - but another major volcanic eruption could erode travel demand, Mr. Eustache warned.
"It's only the beginning of the season to Europe for us, but I know the European airlines are losing tons of money because the airports were closed," he said in an interview, after a speech to the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.
IATA, which represents global carriers, said its members have forgone at least $1.7-billion in revenue since April 15.
Mr. Eustache played down comparisons with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, noting the airline industry suffered severely for six months to a year as travel demand plunged immediately.
Air Canada cancelled flights earlier Tuesday at London Heathrow, Frankfurt and Munich.
Hundreds of Canadian travellers crowded in front of a Heathrow airport terminal, lured by Air Canada reservation agents who assured them that the airline had six jets on the ground and that the carrier would be flying to various Canadian destinations.
Even after British media reported at mid-day that the airspace over London would not be reopened immediately, Air Canada's website showed flights scheduled to depart.
Heathrow is normally one of the world's busiest airports, but taxis and buses filled with hopeful Canadian and British customers arrived on nearly empty streets in traffic so light that one cab driver said he made the round-trip in less time than it typically takes to go one way.
With a report from Brian Milner in London and files from Reuters and the Associated Press