Improvements for air travellers
Tuesday May 18, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

The courts ruled that the strike by cabin crew was illegal.  It was done on a technicality so further industrial action may be held at a later date with a further ballot.

The technicality was that the union failed to tell its members about a number of spoilt ballot papers in the last strike vote.

The union has said it will appeal against the decision and so the issues behind the action have not gone away.

In some ways it just creates more uncertainty among staff and BA customers even though the airline management has said it is pleased with the decision of the court.

The action on Tuesday was due to be the first of four 5-day walk outs. There has been some disruption to BA services today (Tuesday).

Flying againMeanwhile UK airspace is now open again after the volcano ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano closed large parts of it over the past few days. 

We reported on it here.

There is still disruption though as the backlog is cleared.

Many in the airline industry are holding their heads in frustration.

Sir Richard Branson from Virgin Atlantic has criticised the move and other airlines, including BA and Ryanair, have supported him.

The rules surrounding when the airspace is closed have been changed allowing planes to fly in higher concentrations of ash.

The National Air Traffic control System controls when aircarft and and can't fly.

"NATS is delighted that restrictions on UK airspace can today be eased, thanks to new measures from the Civil Aviation Authority. Aircraft can now safely fly through ‘medium density’ ash following the introduction of a new zone that defines the concentration of the ash cloud," says a staement on its web site.

“NATS has been at the heart of this ground-breaking proposal and our people have worked very closely with the Irish Aviation Authority, CAA and the rest of the industry to make it happen,” said NATS Chief Executive Officer, Richard Deakin.

“Every leading player in aviation has been helping to build vast amounts of data about the effects of volcanic ash over the last month. There is mounting evidence that aircraft can fly safely through areas of medium density, provided some additional precautions are taken. This is now what has been agreed.”

Deakin added that teams at NATS had been working all hours to create new and enhanced procedures to make sure the changes can take place as safely and as effectively as possible.

Previously, the CAA has dealt with the ash cloud by applying No-Fly Zones (NFZ) in areas of greatest ash density, and Enhanced Procedures Zones (EPZ) in areas of low density, which were introduced during the six-day crisis last month.

The government maintains that passenger safety is still and will always be the number one priority.

Urgent work is going on within the industry to look at exactly when it is dangerous and when it is safe to fly.

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