The volcanic eruption in Iceland has paralysed air travel in Europe and the US has also brought to a halt flights from India to Europe, USA and Canada.
National carrier Air India and private airliners Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines have either cancelled, rescheduled or suspended their flights to these countries, while inward flights from the US and Europe were delayed indefinitely owing to the volcanic ash that clouded the European skies from Wednesday.
Analysts say that airlines will suffer a dent on revenues of about Rs 1crore-1.5 crore on each flight. For instance, airlines typically use A330 wide bodied aircraft on long haul destinations. This aircraft has nearly 180-plus seats with 8-10 first class category and 24 business class.
Ash clouds from Icelandic volcano continued to hang over European skies on Friday, shutting down major airport hubs like Frankfurt, London and Paris for the second day.
The British Air Traffic Control has prohibited aircraft from entering certain parts of airspace over the UK as flying ash can compromise visibility and debris can be sucked into the engines of aircraft.
A civil aviation ministry release here said ?the cloud of volcanic ash continues to cover much of the UK and the eruption in Iceland continues. (The) restrictions will remain in place in UK-controlled airspace until 0030 hrs on April 17. Eurocontrol has also issued similar advisory for airlines.?
An Air India spokesperson said passengers in AI flights stranded at London Heathrow on April 15 have been provided hotel accommodation until flight operations resumed. AI?s Delhi-London-Delhi, Mumbai-London-Mumbai, Delhi-New York-Delhi and Amritsar-London-Toronto-London-Amristar flights, amongst others, have been cancelled, which were originally scheduled for take off on April 16/17.
A Jet Airways? spokesperson said due to the closure of London Heathrow and Brussels airports, Jet Airways has cancelled all flight to and from London, Brussels, Newark, New York and Toronto scheduled for Friday, and announced an indefinite delay in flights between those destinations pending the reopening of European airports and air space.
Kingfisher has also cancelled its Mumbai-Heathrow, Heathrow-Mumbai, Delhi-Heathrow and Heathrow Delhi flights on Friday.