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Since April 15 Europe has found itself in a unique situation. Due volcanic eruption in Iceland and gradual spread of a volcanic ash cloud throughout Europe it was decided to close airspace and airports first in more than 8 EU counties including Ireland, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, and later in almost all European countries. Such a decision, which is driven foremost by flights and passengers safety reasons and is incontestably legitimate, caught all the authorities and businesses concerned by total surprise. All the air companies, airports, major tour operators and passengers were well focused on the extremely high density end of the week traffic, bearing in mind that it was end of Eastern vacation. In two words, millions of European citizens were booked to come back home. Obviously at that time situation was strongly underestimated, or probably not foreseen in its actual complexity. In his statement on 15 April Commission Vice President Siim Kallas responsible for Transport put emphasis only on passenger rights: "The volcanic ash cloud is a very significant threat to air safety. National authorities are required to take decisions to ensure safety under international law, such as closure of airspace and airports, without discrimination between airlines. In this case, the airports and those responsible for air traffic control have taken very swift and appropriate action to safeguard the public. And there is excellent co-ordination and co-operation at European level, notably within Eurocontrol. But even in exceptional circumstances EU passenger rights continue to apply and air travellers should speak up to claim their rights." With regard to passenger rights, the Vice President added: "This is a situation which is causing immense difficulties for passengers travelling throughout Europe. It can be considered a very exceptional circumstance. Nevertheless, it is important to remind passengers and airlines that EU passenger rights do apply in this situation": • the right to receive information from airlines (e.g. on your rights, on the situation as it evolves, cancellations and length of delays) • the right to care (refreshments, meals, accommodation as appropriate) • the right to chose between reimbursement of fares or be re-routed to final destination In an exceptional circumstance such as this, passengers are not however entitled to additional financial compensation that would be the case where delays or cancellations are the fault of the airline’’. Yes, that was a right statement, but a standard one, a statement that only rises passengers expectations without showing any real solution from the current situation. Next 3 days proved to be a nightmare for millions of passengers at the airports, as far as they got very little of non support from the air companies and tour operators as appropriate. Moreover, it became clear that companies, suffering immense losses itself, could not bear with the situation. In addition insurance companies did not recognize such a risk to cover, as far as there was no precedent up to now. Passengers were advised to find alternative transport when possible, which is a way out, but everything went not further than some bilateral agreements to provide more bus and rail transportation. There were no coordinated efforts on European level. Obviously end of the week is not the best time for the European administration to do it. Starting with a strange and at the first glance away for many of Europeans news of a volcanic ash cloud coming over Europe, the handling of this case on European level posed a lot of questions. They could find answer as soon as possible, as far as from one side up to now still some millions European citizens wait to come back home, and from the other side obviously there is a high probability such or similar situation to come again. |
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