Yes it is extremely annoying. What do you propose? Writing to the volcano?
You can't possibly be serious about requiring an airline to risk its investment in engines and aircraft just to deliver one planeload of passengers? Do you expect the insurers to accept an unknown risk? Are you going to sue if an aircraft goes down with one of your family on board thanks to a dicky Ash forecast?
To put it another way, if it isn't safe for a whole year then you won't be flying for a whole year, period. The precautionary principle has to apply.
And I have a Son who is going to be trying to get to Antigua from Britain on business next week, so don't think I'm not concerned.
My comments from last night seem to have been deleted but by this morning what I was saying bears out in principle.
I FULLY agree with everyone's points on safety and wholly respect the need for caution. I'm a frequent flyer myself and would not want any aircraft to enter into a situation in where it was in risk just for the sake of getting pax somewhere.
However, my point about the difference between 06.57 for example or 06.59 and 07.00 still stands. Now apply that principle to what we have seen today:
Even though Ireland is STILL within the red boundary zone on the UK Met Office/London VAAC charts, airspace is re-opening from 01.00PM today.. Yet at 01.00PM DUB for example will still firmly be in the restricted zone.
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation...1272949726.png
Even on the ash concentration charts, airports like ORK and DUB are not in the zone in which concentrations are expected to exceed the agreed limits - even at 06.00 Hours this morning.
There is no consistent approach from the IAA on this and in their media briefings they seem to have very little knowledge of what they are even talking about.. Comments like: 'A plume of ash extending from Donegal to Port Laoise' - I mean really, they can tell its periphery lies exactly over Port Laoise at the time of the broadcast?
If the European governments thought that bank-bailouts were expensive, the purse-strings are going to have to loosen quite an amount again in the next while in my opinion, as this will cause severe hardship for airlines and many businesses alike.
EI Premier