Comment du Jour

21 April


Keep 'Em Flying!!

After nearly a week of shutdowns due to the Icelandic volcano ash European airspace is open!!

Transatlantic flights have resumed too though there's bound to be serious disruptions.

Unprecedented cancellations have cost the British economy alone over $2 billion.

Nonetheless given the dangers posed to aircraft by the ash plume, SAFETY was the paramount consideration. Ash intake can be lethal to jet engines.

Raymond Benjamin, the Secretary General of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a Montreal-based UN body told correspondents, that the airspace closings over Europe were dictated by the "Principal of Precaution." The airspace is now open "Only because it is safe."

Another ICAO official stressed, "Safety is our main business."