How soon before some of the airlines slip into financial crisis? This has impacted virtually every major airline in the world, as London, Paris and Frankfurt are gateway airports for much of the travel between North America and south and eastern Europe, Africa, Middle East and India. Airlines typically run on tight margins, so it wouldn’t be a shock if this is enough to send a few into a tailspin.
Just look at what 9-11 airline shutdown( several days) did to our economy
Now extend this to most of Europe, already in crisis
Oh, that was cute.
As an Employee for Boeing, I can tell you news that our customers are nearing crisis mode scares the hell out of me. Airlines with hundreds of millions of dollars of airplane orders may not find those orders so important anymore as they recover from this financial impact.
Arthur Max And Karl Ritter, Associated Press
4-18-2010
AMSTERDAM – Dutch airline KLM said it safely flew aircraft without passengers through a window in the cloud of volcanic ash over Europe Sunday, and pressed for an end to the total ban on commercial air traffic that has paralyzed travel across the continent.
Other airlines including Lufthansa and Air France said they, too, were conducting test flights. Authorities, however, extended airspace restrictions across Europe and said there was no end in sight to the plume spewing out of a volcano in Iceland, which they insist is dangerous to planes.
KLM said the planes, of various types in its fleet, flew at normal altitude above 10,000 feet but did not encounter the thick cloud that had hovered over the continent since Wednesday, apparently indicating the Icelandic dust had thinned or dispersed.
A KLM spokeswoman said four flights completed the short flight from Duesseldorf in western Germany without incident and four more planes were due to return to their home base at Schiphol Airport. The airline had permission from Dutch and European aviation authorities before sending the planes aloft.
Engineers immediately took the aircraft for inspection as they landed.
[snip]
Not to worry. Captain Bailout (disguised as nobama the arrogant) stands ready to save them.
How long before we bail out Europe?