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Not the time to think of costs, airline says
DUBAI - Flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to the UK,
- PUBLISHED: Sun 18 Apr 2010, 12:56 AM UPDATED: Wed 12 Jun 2024, 4:00 PM
Ireland and some West European destinations were cancelled for the second day in the running on Friday and may continue to remain so for rest of the weekend, according to airlines and airport authorities.
As the Icelandic volcano continues to erupt, sending plumes of ash further across European skies, passengers have been advised to check for flight cancellations before going to the airport.
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“We are completely at the mercy of weather conditions and hence cannot say how long this will last,” Emirates airline's senior vice-president, Richard Vaughn, told Khaleej Times.
Asked about losses incurred due to the disruptions, Vaughn said: “We are not even thinking about it; that is not our priority right now. We are only thinking about the stranded passengers.”
He said the carrier's first priority was to get the 18,000 or so stranded passengers to safety. “We are working on ways to get things back on schedule, but it all depends on the weather,” he added.
“We are taking decisions based upon the ground situation at a particular destination,” he said. “Our (Friday) morning flight to Moscow was cancelled, but we reopened our flight to the destination in the afternoon as conditions in the city improved.”
Advising passengers affected, Vaughn said: “If your flight has been cancelled, please do not travel to the airport, neither ring our call centre as the lines are jammed. The best way to get the latest information is to log on to our website, which is updated every five minutes and check the status of your flight.”
Emirates airlines cancelled all its flights on Friday to Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, New Castle and Glasgow in the UK, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Dusseldorf and Munich in Germany, and its flight to Paris.
“The volcano is still erupting, but the irony is that Iceland's main airport is open. It all depends on wind pattern. If the wind starts blowing in the Western direction or if there is a downpour than things can clear pretty quickly,” Vaughn said.
He also said the airline is working on a contingency plan for stranded passengers. However, he added, “Nothing concrete can be said as long as the conditions do not improve.”
Similarly, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Etihad Airways and British Airways have also cancelled all their flights to UK and Ireland as well as some of the flights to the Western European destinations.
Airports authorities at both Dubai and Abu Dhabi have also urged the passengers to the affected destinations to check the status of flight with respective airlines before coming to the airport. “All passengers travelling to European cites from or via Dubai are advised to contact their airline before coming to the airport,” said a statement from Dubai Airport.
The UK National Air Traffic Services have announced the closure of UK Airspace until 12 GMT on April 17, 2010. Opening or further closure will be announced subject to weather conditions. Most airlines are either offering a full refund or re-booking to the affected passengers.
· shafaat@khaleejtimes.com