Alexandra's Ashes

Monday the 17th of May hundreds of flights had been cancelled or delayed again due to the volcanic ash cloads in the skies.
The airports around London had been closed all morning before reopening around 1pm. However, delays still continued. Some long-haul flights which were expected to arrive that day, did not arrive until late. Some people had to wait for a whole day to fly again, while others could not fly at all due to complete cancellation.
But the most disturbing of this all is the fact that the airports might have been able to stay open. British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh said that the bans on flying were "A gross over-reaction to a very minor risk" he also said: "I am very concerned that we have decisions on opening and closing of airports based on a theoretical model" There was no evidence of ash in the skies over London that day, yet Heathrow and other airports were closed.
They are now looking at how they can allow safe flying through a somewhat higher threshold of ash.


When the first volcanic ash clouds came into the news in April, I was not very concerned about them. I did not want to fly anywhere anyway, so it was not my concern, as long as it did not harm our health.
However, my flight was scheduled May 17 at 7.10 am. So when I heard about this second ash cloud aproaching the day before, I did start to get slightly nervous. Arriving at the airport, my flight was indeed cancelled and postponed to 8 pm. (Our plane finally took off at ten to twelve that evening.)
But when I read this article and find out that closing the airports might have been a rash and not even neccesary decision, I feel slightly annoyed. We missed a whole day of London, just because of some ash cloud that possibly was not even there!
However, I must say that I am happy that they are now trying to find better ways to deal with these ash clouds. Because the ash clouds are causing more trouble than they are supposed to!


Link to article: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/heathrow-and-gatwick-reopen-following-ash-cloud-delays-1975228.html