MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2010
KLMNO
S
From Page One
A7
MICHAEL PROBST/ASSOCIATED PRESS
A young girl waits at the Frankfurt airport in Germany. The flight ban continues because the volcano is still erupting.
Airport status
as of 4 p.m. Sunday
Open Sunday
Reykjavik
LUCAS JACKSON/REUTERS
Lightning streaks across the sky as lava flows from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland.
Flight bans squeezing global trade
volcano from A1
three weeks, it could seriously disrupt the diamond trade.” In the United States, UPS and
FedEx posted notices to custom- ers about delays in shipments to Europe, and FedEx temporarily halted some of its services. About $40 billion in goods and services pass between the United States and European Union countries each month. Much of that, how- ever, is in equipment and indus- trial products more likely to be sent by sea and not at risk of spoiling. That was not the case in some other parts of the world. In Ken- ya, more than 5,000 workers in the lucrative flower and vegeta- ble industries were told not to re- port for work Sunday. Warehous- es are filled with a backlog of stock, and an estimated 3,000 tons of flowers and vegetables valued at $9 million were sitting at Nairobi’s main international airport. Even if flights to European hubs including London and Am- sterdam, home to the world’s largest flower market, were to re- sume immediately, Kenyan flow- er industry officials said there would be a temporary oversupply that could push prices down for the next week. “Everyone is anxious,” said
Jane Ngige, head of the Kenya Flower Council, which represents 120 farms. “They are wondering what’s going to happen in the next two weeks.” Nowhere is the impact being felt more than by airlines, which have been forced to strand mil- lions of passengers around the world. On Sunday, the number of flights in Europe fell to a four-day low of 4,000, down from 22,000 regularly scheduled Sunday de- partures.
With the Eyjafjallajokull volca-
no in Iceland still erupting, there was no telling when the ash clouds over the region could clear. But the airlines were clam- oring for aviation authorities to roll back the bans anyway. A handful of carriers have run test flights to determine whether ash particles were dense enough over Europe to cause engines to fail. The Dutch carrier KLM said it
flew a Boeing 737-800 to its maxi- mum altitude of eight miles on Saturday. Peter Hartman, KLM’s chief executive, was aboard the flight and said the crew had de- tected “nothing unusual.” Luft- hansa, Air Berlin and Air France officials said that they also ran successful test flights at various altitudes and that the results were submitted to authorities. Europe’s two main airline asso-
ciations issued a statement say- ing that the situation did “not ap- pear to require the kind of re- strictions that are presently being imposed.”
Still, KLM acknowledged that it conducted its test flight when there was a gap in the clouds con- taining the heavier concentra- tions of ash. The other airlines conducted their tests at lower al- titudes. Aviation authorities in Britain and Europe were reviewing the test flight data and remained in intense talks with airlines. Re- strictions were eased in some na- tions, including Germany, but largely remained in place in 24 nations from Ireland to Italy. Civil aviation experts cite two famous examples of volcanic ash disrupting flights, in 1982 and in 1989. In both cases, fatalities were narrowly averted. In Europe, the economic toll is
weekends
being felt most in specific in- dustries, including aviation, air shipment and agricultural busi- nesses dealing in perishable goods.
Blue Pile, a London-based company that cuts and packs fresh fruit in Brazil, Ghana, Egypt and South Africa, said it had lost more than $1.2 million since the ban began on Thursday. Anthony Pile, the company’s chairman, said the delays were costing thou- sands of farmers in Africa who sell to fruit to the company. “The impact is everywhere,” Pile said.
Economists said it would take weeks of flight bans to signifi- cantly damage the European economy. In Britain, for instance, air transport accounts for less than 1 percent of international trade.
If the region remains cut off by air for a prolonged period, phar- maceutical, biotech and even au- to manufacturers that depend on air transport for time-sensitive deliveries could face production delays. The additional sting would come at a time when the region is already lagging the
United States in bouncing back from the financial crisis. “What is now a manageable,
short-term disruption could be- come a major weight on an econ- omy that is still very fragile,” said Henk Potts, vice president of Bar- clay’s Wealth in London.
faiolaa@washpost.comadamk@washpost.com
Correspondents Emily Wax in New Delhi and Sudarsan Raghavan in Nairobi and staff writer Howard Schneider in Washington contributed to this report.
Volcano
NORWAY
Atlantic Ocean
North Sea
IRELANDIRELAND BRITAIN BRITAIN NETH. BEL.
Note: Information not available for countries without labels.
FRANCE
GERMANY LUX.
SWITZ. ITALY BULGARIA SPAIN
Med. Sea
TURKEY
MARY KATE CANNISTRA/THE WASHINGTON POST
• EVERY TUESDAY •
STEAK & LOBSTER
SONLY $14.99S
Limited-time offer • Prices may vary
Steak & Lobster Tail
POLAND UKRAINE
CZECH REP. SLOVAKIA
AUSTRIA CROATIA CROATIA DEN.
Baltic Sea
ESTONIA ESTONIA
LITHUANIA LATVIA
SWEDEN SWEDEN FINLAND RUSSIA
ICELAND
Closed until at least Monday Some open
0 MILES 250
@RUBY’S
SDINNER FOR TWOS
FRI, SAT & SUN $19.99 per person • Limited-time offer
FOUR-COURSE
SUNDAY BRUNCH
at participating locations
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56