… and guess what’s to blame? Of course, it’s our old friend, Eyjafjallajökull the Icelandic Volcano.
Traffic is down 2.4% in April on international traffic, whilst European traffic is down 11.7% (From a 6.2% increase).
IATA’s director general and CEO Giovanni Bisignani knocked out these quotes:
“The ash crisis knocked back the global recovery – impacting carriers in all regions. Last month, we were within 1 percent of pre-crisis traffic levels in 2008. In April, that was pushed back to 7 percent,”
“European carriers bore the worst of the volcano’s impact. Their 11.7 percent drop in passenger traffic could not have come at a worse time. Europe’s slow recovery from the global financial crisis and its currency crisis are already a huge burden on the profitability of its airlines,” he said.
“The uncoordinated and excessive cancellations and unfairly onerous passenger care requirements rubbed salt into the European industry’s wounds”
Well it may had been uncoordinated, but it’s safety first – ok – the rules have changed as there has been more experience and knowledge gained through it.
After all, operators wouldn’t want to put profits ahead of lives… would they?
