EU transport ministers meet to discuss flight chaos
EU transport ministers will meet on Monday, mostly via video conference to discuss recent test flights through the ash cloud which has been severely disrupting air travel and amid pressure to ease airspace restrictions.
Ministers from the 27 nation bloc will analyse the test flights’ results during a videoconference due to get underway at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT) said Transport Minister Jose Blanco, the representative of the country which currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
He also said on RNE, the public radio station that they will analyse the information from planes that carried out test flights as well as information from the observation centre of volcanic ash in London which studies the evolution of the concentration and density of the particles.
Some major European carriers including Air France, British Airways and KLM reported no problems after launching flights to test fears that the ash cloud destroy jet engines.
A spokesman for British Airways said that their test flight on Sunday found “no difficulties” as it gauged the safety of flying through the volcanic ash cloud.
The Boeing 747 jumbo jet, which was carrying their chief executive Willie Walsh, flew for nearly three hours from London Heathrow Airport out over the Atlantic Ocean before returning to Cardiff.
The spokesman said that the conditions were perfect and the aircraft encountered no difficulties. It will now undergo a full technical analysis at BA’s engineering base in Cardiff.
The Brussels-based Eurocontrol, a continent-wide aviation authority, said that 30 percent of European flights were set to go ahead Monday.
Nearly seven million passengers have been affected by the airspace closures which governments say are essential for safety reasons.
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