The Grimsvötn eruption sent an ash plume as high as 17km, with strong winds dispersing the ash cloud towards the European continent. In the hours immediately following the eruption, the European Commission and EUROCONTROL activated the European Aviation Crisis Coordination Cell (EACCC), which includes senior representatives from the European Commission, EUROCONTROL, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Member States, the aviation industry (including ACI EUROPE) and unions. The EACCC was established in May 2010 and provides an efficient structure for effective coordination of a crisis in real-time.
Since April 2010, the European Commission, EUROCONTROL and EASA have worked intensely to devise an alternative procedure for flight operations, safeguarding the highest possible level of safety, while minimising disruption. This procedure was put at the disposal of national governments, but there were concerns that Members States still would not apply the procedure promptly and consistently throughout Europe.
Over the three days from 23-25 May, flights were disrupted at airports in Iceland, the UK, Ireland, Norway, Denmark and Northern Germany, with some concerns about a possible dispersion further South, potentially impacting airports in France and Spain.
As well as participating in the EACCC, Europe’s airports and airlines, represented by ACI EUROPE and the Association of European Airlines (AEA) met with senior European Commission officials on 24 May to review progress in the handling of the Grimsvötn eruption and subsequently issued a joint statement speaking out clearly in support of the procedure that had been made available to Member States.
Ryanair was typically outspoken on the issue, claiming to have operated what it called a ‘verification flight’ over Scotland without encountering any ash. However, the UK Civil Aviation Authority dismissed the claim, asserting that the aircraft had been tracked on radar and had not flown near the high concentration of ash.
April 2011: EUROCONTROL Exercise
By coincidence, in April, one year on from last year’s volcanic ash shock, EUROCONTROL led a special volcanic ash crisis exercise, which involved more than 70 airlines, 14 air navigation service providers, 10 national regulatory authorities, the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre London (VAAC), as well as the European Commission, EASA and EUROCONTROL.
The aim was to validate changes and improvements to the volcanic ash contingency plan and procedures. Ironically, the exercise actually simulated the eruption of the Grimsvötn volcano and the resultant spread of a volcanic ash cloud across the North Atlantic and across European airspace.
While fully respecting safety requirements, airspace closures were minimised during the Grimsvötn eruption. In total, only 900 out of 90,000 European flights were cancelled in the three-day period from 23-25 May; this was far less than the disruption last year following the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, when airspace was closed for six days across much of Western Europe and 100,000 flights were cancelled. The second time around, the swift response highlights that Europe is now equipped to respond to an ash cloud crisis with a graduated rather than a one-size-fits-all approach and that the measures put in place for crisis situations have given Europe an aviation system that is better prepared and faster to react.
