IATA calls for better handling of volcanic ash crisis in Europe

GENEVA, The International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Tuesday called on European governments and air navigation service providers to urgently develop more precise procedures to identify ash contaminated air space and allow more flights.

The call came in the wake of 1,000 flight cancellations on Monday as a result of the continued volcanic eruptions in Iceland.

"This problem is not going away any time soon. The current European-wide system to decide on airspace closures is not working, " Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's director general and CEO, said in a statement.

Bisignani said most European governments were "still basically relying on one-dimensional information to make decisions on a four- dimensional problem," the result of which was the unnecessary closure of airspace.

"Safety is always our number one priority. But we must make decisions based on facts, not on uncorroborated theoretical models, " he said.

Bisignani called for more robust data collection and analysis as well as an improvement in the decision making process. He also highlighted the urgency in addressing the issues.

"Volcanic ash is a new challenge for European aviation. We can understand that systems need to be developed to cope. But what is absolutely inexcusable is the failure of Europe's governments to act urgently and collectively to provide real leadership in a crisis," he said.

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