Air Travel in the Wake of the Volcano
This has been quite a week. Unable to travel to the United States I missed a dinner by the Hungarian American Coalition in honor of former New York Governor George Pataki, a good Hungarian-American. I was supposed to escort 45 young Europeans and Americans through a program called “Europe meets America,” an effort to bring the youths of America and Europe closer. I had to skip an event by the Tom Lantos Foundation on freedom of the press in the Middle East on Capitol Hill. Of course, I also had to cancel a number of meetings with some of my friends, among them Mark Palmer, the former U.S. ambassador to Hungary and my hero in the diplomatic profession. Also, I was forced to miss meetings at the Atlantic Council, and with some leading journalists.
This is not name dropping. This is part of one single person’s agenda for a short visit to America to strengthen ties. This is a result of the chaotic mess in the European airspace following the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano on Iceland.
A transportation economist by training, I was shocked by the lack of coordinated efforts to minimize the effects of the interruption in air traffic within Europe and across the Atlantic. Tens of thousands were stranded at airports all over the world.
The blame game began immediately. The private sector pointed fingers at the lame European Union, saying that it was lack of leadership which lead to the chaos. Airlines were pushing for the opening of the airspace quickly while governments dithered. Too much national authority, not enough courage, the airlines said.
Eurocontrol, the EU organization which manages our airspace, was cautious. Look at the United States, the critics cried! It would never have taken so long!
There will be lessons drawn from the experience. The European Commission will adopt new directives; there will probably be a union-wide investigation; and the governments will most probably bail out the airlines, who will in return blame all their losses on the Icelanders.
Next time around, we will have to be better prepared.
However, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions too quickly. We Europeans are spoiled brats. We just can’t imagine something like this happening to us. While we feel sorry for the rest of the world, our societies have had it too good and too safe for too long. The same people who urged the early opening of the airspace would have sued the governments for the loss of lives had there been a single catastrophe as a result of damage to the airplanes. And thank God the leaders in Europe chose to protect life and not bend to pressure. It is right that human life comes first. And we should stick to that principle and not forget that this is the backbone of our values in our free and democratic societies.
”The European Commission will adopt new directives; there will probably be a union-wide investigation; and the governments will most probably bail out the airlines, who will in return blame all their losses on the Icelanders.
Next time around, we will have to be better prepared.”
This the most worthy part of this piece : Bail them out and prepare a new level of Air travel security for the next Volcanic Eruption scheduled to when ?
The Airliners could play this game because the governments are in charge of airspace security … if it were their responsibility they would ground their planes and shut up, after all who want a 150+ victim accident with all the PR and financial implications involved ?
The parallel with the Chernobyl disaster is also displaced, since I’m pretty sure people had no choice other than obey and behave like stuff were normal and no one could be held accountable
The protection of life part is funny … since in certain case the life of certain person are not sacred in western democracies …
It wasn’t the business of bureaucrats, the rule of no one, to decide. The airlines are far more capable in making decisions because they are far more accustomed to taking responsibility. One airliner going down in those circumstances affects their bottom line drastically.
But the nannyboy would choke on his opinions faster than volcanic dust if he could not inflict them on others.
Shutting down the flights in the areas where the volcanic ash was was quite right. On a TV program, Mayday, on the Discovery Channel, a few years ago there was a story about an airplane that almost crashed because it had run into volcanic ash.
Why didn’t some of the travellers within Europe take trains or buses? Those to the U.S. and other places across the sea could take ships – thought the trips would be very long!
I just read on German Yahoo news that a NATO fighter that flew through the volcanic ash had glass particles (formed by engine heat acting on the ash) in its engine. The article didn’t have details on the date, route , or duration of the flight, but it does sound as though airlines might have been spared some expensive plane repairs by this decision, to say nothing of potential crashes.
wattsupwiththat : In Defense Of The Met Office: http://wp.me/p7y4l-4T8
Let me get this straight:
The Soviets (Russian variety) lied to the world about the dangers of Chernobyl, and you castigate them.
The Soviets (EU variety) don’t even bother to determine where the exact danger lay in the ash cloud, even failed to actually determine that there was a danger, and thereby paralyzed world travel, and you think they did the right thing?
I understand the contrast between the lies the Soviets forced placing people at grave risk compared against the overweaning overprotective bureacratic cringing which resulted in the travel shut-down — but aren’t these really two faces of the same coin — in one case the plutocrats lied to protect their asses and reputation, in the second case the plutocrats failed to do due diligence, not to protect people, but to protect their own asses.
Andras Simonyi makes a great mistake in assuming the Euros acted primarily to save lives — they acted to save their cushy jobs. Without evidence of actual danger, without even determining where the ash cloud was, the unaccountable mandarins of the Eurozone paralyzed global transport and cost untold billions for millions — millions who will never get their time or money back.
That was the Cyclopede minut from the Soviets (American variety)
This volcanic hiccup is nothing. Wait until a real volcanic eruption occurs that blankets the earth for several months with the same ash cloud…how will society cope..? will the stores run out of Xanax and Valium..?
Honestly, i think the world is full of sissies and weaklings…late for a meeting, stranded at airport…1-800-waa-waaa. What ever will people do when something substantial occurs.
Alex
time to re-build lines ships
to the ash cloud dangerousity deniers :
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_VOLCANO_JETS_DAMAGED?SITE=NYMID&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://www.military.com/news/article/volcanic-ash-grounds-some-military-flights.html?ESRC=topstories.RSS
uh, if one organisation was well aware of the danger, it’s the Air Force, and or Nato
“They should have ordered the population to stay indoors, to protect the children from the nuclear fallout. They should also have banned all transportation through the contaminated territory.”
A very weak argument which suffers from a statist approach. Informing the population of risks is one thing. Ordering them to take a specific action, not because their actions endanger others, but because their choice might endanger themselves, is Nanny State thinking. Throwing in the bit about protecting the children is the real tip off. Parents can decide whether or not the risk to their progeny is justified much better than a maternalistic state.