Jaunted

On one hand you have to appreciate the airlines' position. The UK is already officially closed through the middle of the week, and the British government has taken to dispatching Royal Navy ships to ferry citizens home. They're obviously in no hurry to green light flights. Above and beyond lost revenue, airlines are certainly worried that companies will duct tape together alternatives to air travel. Corporate drones who have to teleconference for two weeks out of necessity might decide they actually like working from their own office.

But the EU is also undoubtedly in a tough bind. Planes are filled with people, and people have relatives, and those relatives will be pissed if a plane loses its engines in a totally predictable way. Remember that the basis for a lot of current concern comes from past flights, where planes experienced total engine failures while flying through volcanic ash (silicate melts and fuses to metal at 1100C; jet engines operate at 1400C). The airlines say that modern engines can withstand the stress and modern flight paths can get around the dust. All of which is fair and maybe even mostly true—but how lucky do you feel?

[Photo: Boaworm / Wiki Commons]

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· Volcanic ash cloud restrictions 'embarrassing', say airlines [Telegraph]
· Big Ash Problems [Jaunted]
· Britain Travel [Jaunted]