Icelandic Volcano now affecting F1

[John S]

With all the flights into & out of Britain and most North European countries still grounded, by the authourities, because of the dangers of ingestion of ash by jet engines, F1 may find it hard to get back home after the Chinese GP.

 An erupting volcano in Iceland is affecting the world of formula one. The dark cloud of smoke from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano that is now shrouding most of north Europe forced thousands of flights to be cancelled. All flights into British airspace are cancelled until further notice,

BBC pundit Eddie Jordan is one high profile regular stranded in Britain due to the airport strife, and it is believed that Williams did not run its new F-duct in first practice because the parts could not be flown to China from the UK.

It is believed that Virgin is missing some staff and last-minute parts.

The situation could also affect the F1 circus' return to Europe after Sunday's race.

"For several days you'll have crews and planes in the wrong places," said a British Airways spokesman. "It will take a few days to sort it out."

Updatef1.com, Yesterday

[Scott]

What does British Airways care?  Aren't they on strike half the time?   

[John S]

What does British Airways care?  Aren't they on strike half the time?   

You're not wrong Scott, BA along with the Railways and London Tube account for most of the strikes this year in Britain.

 

[Jericoke]

Don't most of their equipment travel by truck around Europe anyway?  Just fly to Spain, and then load anything that needs to go back to Britain on the trucks.

[judy]

I agree with Jeri and I am sure there are more than one way to return to UK from Shanghai. They can take a flight to Spain or France instead and then cross the channel to UK.

[Scott]

Don't forget there are thousands and thousands of other people trying to get to their homes or on holidays at the same time.  Air travel is in complete chaos from the ash, all over Europe and everyone trying to connect to and from.  Really, who cares about the F1 teams - they have 3 weeks until the next race.

[Wizzo]

Has the dreaded cloud of ash affected any of your customers yet Scott?

I'm on an airport run for a friend on Tuesday morning but I'd say he hasn't got a hope in hell of going on holiday on time.

[Scott]

It was supposed to be sunny today, but turned out cloudy, so a lot of people are blaming the volcano, but I don't think it had anything to do with it.  Thankfully most of our guests come by train or car, so we don't expect any fewer.

[gato]

It was supposed to be sunny today, but turned out cloudy, so a lot of people are blaming the volcano, but I don't think it had anything to do with it.  Thankfully most of our guests come by train or car, so we don't expect any fewer.

It is Spain GP after 3 weeks, probably the mountain is not so active then. In my country the air space is closed whole next week because new ash cloud comes on Tuesday. Many travellers are stopped in our international airport because nobody plane doesn't leave or arrive. This makes to think how we coped before it was air traffic invented!

[Scott]

The last time this volcano was active (mid 1850's), it lasted for 3 years.  Don't be so sure it's a little dust-up.

[David]

I've heard a predicted two years for this eruption. Even uncle Bernie mentioned two years in the GP build up today. Now that's 

[FW14B]

When the wind changes direction, things will change with regards to air travel.

[Alianora La Canta]

The wind looks like changing direction around Thursday, so there's a good chance airspace will be re-opened between then and Friday night.

However MotoGP has postponed a race in Motegi, scheduled for next weekend, until October just to be on the safe side.

[judy]

I know taking a flight is the fastest mode of trasport to get from one place to another. However in such situation, why those stranded in the airports in various cities in Europe are not resorting to other forms of transport to travel (within Europe) during this period.

As for travelling out of Europe, they can travel (by rail or roads) to countries in southern Europe which are not affected (example: Spain, Portugal or Greece) and then take a flight to their destination.

[John S]

You are right in principal Judy, unfortunately there are one or two problems with switching. Most people will have already paid for their air tickets and although they can claim a refund they will not get that money for some while meaning more cost to change to another form of transport. Some people are using the return part of an air ticket and it is not clear whether this will be refunded as the airlines may choose to offer the next available flight, if they are like me at the end of a holiday they will not have the cash to pay for other transport. The other bigger problem is the capacity of the other forms of transport, since they have to run services that are profitable there will only be a small surplus available for those switching from air.