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Airlines appeal for help to clear backlog
April 26, 2010

LONDON: Airlines have appealed to passengers to give up their seats to stranded travellers, as carriers in Europe attempt to clear a backlog of thousands of tourists grounded by the ash cloud that spewed from Iceland's volcano.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic appealed for passengers booked on long-haul flights this week to consider giving up their seat to make way for travellers still stuck following flight disruptions. A week of airspace closures caused by ash clouds gusting from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano caused the worst breakdown in civil aviation in Europe since World War II.

More than 100,000 flights were cancelled and airlines are on track to lose more than $US2 billion ($2.16 billion).

''It's a very difficult situation and we've had to deal with a lot of complexity - aircraft stuck in different parts of the world, crew stuck in different parts of the world,'' the chief executive of British Airways, Willie Walsh, said.

Flight authorities in Europe say the majority of the continent is now free of volcanic ash and most airline services are operating as normal. Several carriers said they were adding flights to help the stranded return home.

At London's Gatwick Airport, Daniel Starks, a 39-year-old farmer, said he was one of 200 tourists stuck on the Spanish island of Tenerife for an extra five days. ''There's a lot still out there that can't get back,'' he said.

France's Foreign Ministry said about 10,000 French travellers remained stranded - about half the number estimated on Friday, including 60 people stuck in Nepal.

The founder of Virgin Atlantic, Richard Branson, labelled the Europe-wide ban on flights as unnecessary.

The British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has defended the decision to close European airspace, insisting it was correct to prioritise passenger safety.

Source :- http://www.smh.com.au/