Emirates, Etihad keep key Europe flights grounded

Dubai: Flights to Europe remain cancelled as airports stay closed due to volcanic ash from Iceland.

Local airlines Emirates and Etihad Airways flights to European destinations except a select few in the south on the continent are suspended until air traffic control authorities declare it safe to fly.

"Currently, over 73,000 of our passengers have been affected by the cancellations. We plan to operate extra flights to help ease the situation but we will not be able to confirm any further details until clearance is received from European Air Traffic Control authorities," said Richard Vaughan, divisional senior vice-president for commercial operations worldwide at Emirates.

Meanwhile, the airline is providing accommodation and three meals daily to more than 5,000 transit passengers stuck in Dubai, at a cost of more than $10 million (Dh36.7 million) per day.

Etihad Airways flights to UK, Ireland, Europe and Russian Federation are still cancelled.

Meanwhile, European airlines have started test flights to determine the extent of the danger, in order to resume flights as soon as possible. Dutch airline KLM said it was scheduled to conduct nine test flights yesterday, following a successful test flight late on Saturday. Additionally, Germany carrier Lufthansa also operated 10 test flights within the country on Saturday.

Seven aircraft

No problems were seen during initial test flights, but passenger flights will not resume until the aviation authorities deem it safe to do so, the airlines said. The authorities will assess test results and airlines expect to be granted permission to fly passengers as soon as possible.

"These are test flights," said KLM President and chief executive Peter Hartman. "This does not mean that normal air traffic has been resumed. This matter will be decided on by the Dutch air transport authorities IVW, in consultation with the European authorities."

KLM's first test flight from Düsseldorf, Germany yesterday morning was also to bring seven stranded aircraft back to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport by a 20-man crew.

While British Airways flights via London airports continue to be cancelled yesterday and today, one of Europe's largest carriers, Lufthansa's flights are all grounded. "Following further information from the Met Office about the path of the volcanic ash affecting UK airspace and airlines, there will continue to be severe disruption to our schedule," British Airways said in a statement yesterday.

In Germany, the airports in Berlin, Bremen, Cologne, Dortmund, Dresden, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Hof, Leipzig, Munich, Muenster/Osnabrueck, Nuremberg and Stuttgart are shut until further notice.

Perishables: Imports affected

A large volume of perishables is importedy from Europe and that service may have beeen disrupted by the cancellation of flights.

Dairy products, seafood, fruits and vegetables from northern Europe enter the Middle East thorough the hub in Dubai and are later moved to other parts of the region.

While the region is not mainly dependent on trade from Europe and continues to import from other regions during the volcanic activity, European traders will be affected much more as their airspace is completely shut down, isolating it from the benefits of globalisation.