Iceland rarely plays a major role in world events, but that changed with a bang on Wednesday when a volcano there began erupting for the second time in less than a month. By Thursday, ash spewing from the volcano and carried by the wind toward Europe had created havoc for air travelers around the globe. On Friday, the situation grew worse, and prospects for immediate improvement were iffy, at best.
Eurocontrol, an air traffic agency, reported that about two-thirds of Europe’s daily flights — about 16,000 — were canceled Friday. That’s about twice as many as were canceled Thursday. In addition, less than half of scheduled trans-Atlantic flights reached Europe and about 60 flights between Asia and Europe were canceled. Optimism that circumstances will improve quickly is in short supply.
Late Friday, a Eurocontrol official said, “there will be some significant disruption of European air traffic tomorrow [Saturday].” Indeed, conditions that make flying dangerous could persist into next week. Some meteorologists say it is unlikely that the jet stream, which is pushing the volcanic ash plume into Europe, will shift until midweek when an Atlantic storm is expected to develop.
Fears about ash-induced disaster are warranted. The microscopic ash particles are extremely abrasive and can cause engine failure if sucked into jet engines. That’s happened several times in the past. In 1982, for example, a British Airways flight from Indonesia to New Zealand unknowingly flew into an ash cloud. Within minutes all four engines stopped. A quick decision by the pilots to dive from 36,000 feet to 10,000 feet saved the 236 people aboard. The dive blew ash out of the engines and allowed the crew to restart the engines.
Understandable concern about such a calamity prompted widespread closures of airports across Europe — including Heathrow in London and Charles de Gaulle in Paris, the continent’s two busiest. As the cloud persisted and spread Friday, additional airports shut down. The result was chaos.