Expensive lessons learned from 2010 have led to more unified response in the EU, but more could be done, claims IATA
The air industry has improved its emergency procedures since last year’s ash cloud and it is better positioned to handle the current crisis, according to Europe’s airlines and airports.
On Tuesday, the Association of European Airlines (AEA) and ACI Europe (Airports Council International) met with senior EC officials to review the progress in the handling of the latest volcanic eruption in Iceland.
Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, the AEA Secretary General, said: “Compared with a year ago, we are seeing stronger unity and clarity of response, which is absolutely vital.
“European institutions are actively communicating as the situation unfolds, and member states are widely endorsing safety risk assessments, which are performed by individual airlines and agreed by national authorities. Our governments and airlines are, of course, maintaining safety as their key priority.”
In the hours following the weekend eruption, the EC and EU air navigation safety body Euro control activated the European Aviation Crisis Co-ordination Cell (EACCC), a group which manages crisis situations as they evolve.
The EACCC includes senior representatives from the EC, Euro control, European Aviation Safety Agency , member states, the aviation industry and unions.
Schulte-Strathaus said that in April last year, governments had pursued “a blanket approach” to airspace closures.
This had led to nearly 8,000 flight cancellations on the first day of the ash crisis, compared with just 500 flights this year, so far. On an average day, 29,000 flights are handled in European airspace, according to Euro control figures.
Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI Europe, said: “For those feeling a sense of déjà vu, I can tell you that this latest eruption is being handled in a very different manner. Lessons have been learned.
“This past year, the EC, Eurocontrol and EASA have worked intensely to devise an alternative procedure for flight operations, safeguarding the highest possible level of safety, while minimizing disruption. This procedure is at the disposal of national governments. It now needs to be applied promptly and consistently throughout Europe.”
But the International Air Transport Association (IATA) cautioned that the absence of a formal agreement at political level to respond in a co-ordinated and harmonized manner left shippers vulnerable to “fragmented decision-making”.
IATA’s Director General and CEO, Giovanni Bisignani, said: “Work over the last year has put in place a European crisis co-ordination structure that is facilitating a much more effective management of this ash crisis at a working level.
“But Grimsvotn is also a dramatic reminder of the disappointing lack of progress at the political level on the Single European Sky [a unified European air traffic control network].
“The potential for a patchwork of inconsistent state decisions on airspace management still exists because there is a major disconnect between the improved process and state decisions on airspace availability.”
It is estimated that the 2010 volcanic ash crisis cost airlines US$1.8 billion in lost revenue and the global economy as a whole, $5 billion.
Katerina Kerr & Damian Brett | Thu, 26 May 2011, IFW News