European air traffic authority: Some 20,000 flights cancelled on Sunday
April 18th, 2010 - 6:44 pm ICT by BNO News
BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) — The European air traffic authority EUROCONTROL said that some 20,000 flights would be cancelled on Sunday as a massive cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland continues to haunt passengers and airlines across Europe.
The agency said approximately 4,000 flights are expected to take place in European airspace on Sunday, compared to 24,000 flights on a normal Sunday. “By the end of today, we expect that more than 63,000 flights in total will have been cancelled since Thursday 15 April,” it said in a press statement.
A summary of the figures showed that the number of European flights daily continues to drop sharply on a day to day basis. On Wednesday, before the volcanic ash cloud began to impact flights, 28,087 flights operated in European airspace. A day later, this figure had dropped to 20,842 (down 27.1 percent from a week before.)
As more airports began to shut down on Friday, the number of European flights dropped to 11,659 - nearly 50% down from the day before and down 59.2% from a week before. On Saturday, the number of European flight plummeted to 4,886 (down 78.4 percent from a week before.)
As of Sunday afternoon, air traffic control services are not being provided to civil aircraft in the major part of European airspace. This includes Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, most of France, most of Germany, Hungary, Ireland, northern Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, north Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the UK.
EUROCONTROL said that, in some areas, upper airspace has been made available depending on the observed and forecasted area of possible ash contamination. “However, it is difficult to access this airspace as in most cases the surrounding area is not available for flights,” the agency said.
Southern Europe, including parts of Spain, Portugal, the southern Balkan area, southern Italy, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey remain open and flights are taking place in these areas.
- Eurocontrol: Impact of volcanic ash to continue until at least Sunday afternoon - Apr 17, 2010
- European air traffic authority estimates some 20,000 flights cancelled on Monday - Apr 19, 2010
- Volcano eruption: Flight cancellations leave thousands stranded - May 25, 2011
- Ash spreads south as Europe air shutdown causes havoc - Apr 18, 2010
- Volcanic ash further hampers European air traffic (Lead) - Apr 18, 2010
- Europe cancels 250 flights over volcanic ash (Lead) - May 24, 2011
- European airlines cancel more than 500 flights as volcanic ash spreads - May 24, 2011
- European flight bans extended as volcano spews ash - Apr 17, 2010
- Air traffic returns to normal in Europe after volcano ash crisis - Apr 23, 2010
- Clouds thinning, airspaces opening, says Eurocontrol - Apr 19, 2010
- European no-fly zone shrinks, but remains subject to change - Apr 20, 2010
- RAW - Eurocontrol statement on European air traffic situation - May 08, 2010
- Eurocontrol says about 500 European flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud on Monday - May 10, 2010
- Volcano ash shuts down airports in Germany (Lead) - May 25, 2011
- Eurocontrol: Approximately 1,000 flights to be cancelled on Monday due to volcanic ash cloud - May 17, 2010
Tags: 15 april, afternoon air, air traffic control, airspace, balkan area, bno, civil aircraft, eurocontrol, european flights, germany hungary, massive cloud, netherlands norway, north spain, northern italy, southern europe, southern italy, spain portugal, traffic authority, traffic control services, volcanic ash cloud