Airline passenger news and views

There is a lot of discussion about whether of not the European authorities, and to a lesser extent the UK government, made the ‘right’ decision about the dangers of the Icelandic ash cloud. Airlines have called the airspace closure an economic disaster worse than 9/11 and have labeled the handling of it as a complete mess.

IATA have expressed strong criticism of what it calls insufficient risk assessment, quoting its airline members as having been happy to work to a reduced schedule using specified air corridors. They complain that the national transport ministers were unable to agree and that setting up a conference took five days. Giovanni Bisignani, the current head of IATA categorised the situation as an embarrassment for Europe.

There are clearly polarized views. It would be easy to regard these as safety first versus business first but that would be wrong and overly simplistic. The governments did make mistakes and caused problems by indecisiveness but, in the big decisions, it is hard to be critical of them.

Even if it is proved beyond doubt that it would have been safe to fly, we must remember that as the ash cloud grew, no one knew the answers. It is the role of regulators and ministers to take the hard decisions. For once in my life, I tend to support them.

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