Airline passenger news and views

Are the risks connected with the volcanic ash being over exaggerated? Is this just Health & Safety madness or a sensible response by the EU watchdogs?

First, it was Sunday, then Monday and now the ban on take-offs and landings has been extended to Tuesday. An estimated one-milion Britons are stranded abroad and probably as many again are stuck here, enduring the election broadcasts, when they could be somewhere else. Many are asking if this level of disruption and all of the consequences that flow from it can really be justified.

The answer is that no-one actually knows. Both airlines and the authorities have conducted test flights and there have been no problems. The engines have been examined and no damage has been reported. It is true that, at least for trans-Atlantic flights, aircraft could keep low until clear of the European airspace and then climb out over the Atlantic. On balance, it would probably be ok. The big problem is that on-one wants to make that call and be proved wrong by an airliner crashing into a major city. 

I am very sorry for all those affected including the airlines that must be suffering dreadfully but, for once, I am on the side of the bureaucrats and the safety first brigade. I think that, this time, they have got it about right.