Saturday, April 17, 2010

Air Travel Chaos

Like many other people, I could not take my flight from Paris last night. This is the travel travel disruption since 911 and there's no telling how long it will last. It depends on how long the volcano will spew ash and on the weather. They say the volcano eruption may continue for months and more flights may be disrupted, depending on the wind. Almost two-thirds of all transatlantic flights into European airports have been canceled.
The cloud is so up in the air that you really can't see anything and the sky over Paris is actually quite blue right now!
My vacations may be spoiled but I'll have my ticket reimbursed. At least I'm not stranded in some foreign country without being allowed outside the airport for not having a visa and don't have to pay for hotel rooms with my own money.
In the strange news category, I just read that the French air controllers were given a drill exercise for this very situation only a month ago - the script was indeed an ash cloud from a volcano in Iceland over Europe. It was sheer chance that it happened that way and apparently it helped them deal with this situation.
It'll be interesting to see the consequences of this chaos, especially if it lasts for some time. Already, the impact for the airlines and for the economic sector based on just-in-time delivery can be felt and could only get worse.

No comments: