EU Emergency Talks on Air Chaos

EU transport ministers are to hold emergency talks by video conference on easing the air travel crisis caused by a volcanic ash cloud in Europe's skies.

More than 6.8 million passengers have been affected so far, as the crisis enters its fifth day. EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said: "We cannot just wait until this ash cloud dissipates."

Airports and airlines question the need for curbs said to be costing airlines alone $200m a day.

The enormous shroud of fine mineral dust particles now stretches from the Arctic Circle in the north to the French Mediterranean coast in the south, and from Spain into Russia.

Airspace remains closed, or partially closed, in more than 20 countries.

Sixty-three thousand flights have been cancelled in the four days since the clampdown began. And the prospect of a return to normal air travel remains far from clear.

The Spanish Minister for Europe, Diego Lopez Garrido, had said on Sunday that up to half of the flights across Europe could operate on Monday while speaking after talks with Eurocontrol, which co-ordinates air traffic control in 38 nations. It had recommended the current flight ban.

But Brian Flynn, deputy head of operations for Eurocontrol, told the BBC that while half of the European landmass could be clear of ash cloud, that did not mean half of the flights could go ahead.
The flight bans came amid fears that the ash — a mixture of glass, sand and rock particles — can seriously damage aircraft engines. The international airports council, ACI, said a total of 313 airports had been paralyzed by the restrictions. In another development, hundreds of thousands of Kenyans working in agriculture, the country's largest export sector, face economic uncertainty because of the flight bans.