Latest update on European airports chaos
Bulgarian air carriers will sustain losses of about 400 000 euro because of the havoc caused in European air space from the Iceland volcano, Yovko Yotsev, head secretary of the Bulgarian Airlines Association (BAA) told the Bulgarian news agency (BTA).BAA expect that service over Europe's skies will be restored to full capacity within three days. They also said, however, that such forecasts cannot be certain as the situation changes constantly. Carriers are obliged to either compensate passengers fully for the cancellations or provide them with alternative transport.Bulgaria Air resumed some of its flights on April 19, to Moscow, Madrid and Vienna, while other destinations are also expected to follow.Giovanni Bisignani, of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said on April 19 that the current damage and the sheer scale of the crisis facing the airline industry is now greater than at the time of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, international media reported.Airspace closures in Europe mean that airlines were sustaining damages exceeding $200m every day in loss revenues.For the moment, all flights in the UK are banned until 3pm Bulgarian time on April 20, while in Ireland, flights remain grounded until 8pm Bulgarian time on April 19.In France, south-west airports will be open until 3pm on April 19. Airports north of the Nice-Bordeaux line are closed until the morning of April 20. In Germany, airports are shut until 2pm, while in the Netherlands they will be shut until 2pm (all times listed are Bulgarian time or +2 GMT).Italian airspace in the north of country will remain closed until 8am on April 20 after briefly opening earlier on April 19. Meanwhile, Danish authorities have announced that flights above 10 800 metres will be given the all-clear to fly.Austrian and Spanish airspace are fully open, British media reported as it is in Turkey, except in some areas, aircraft must remain under 6000 metres.All Polish airports will remain shut on April 19, while all Russian ones are open.