Sector: Travel & Leisure

According to estimates from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the disruption caused by the Icelandic volcano eruption may have led to some $1.7 billion (£1.1 billion) in total losses for the airline industry.

IATA chief executive Giovanni Bisignani estimated that, at worst, the six-day flight ban hit 29 per cent of global aviation and affected up to 1.2 million passengers each day. He believes that the crisis was even more damaging to the industry than 9/11, when US airspace was closed for three days. ‘For an industry that lost $9.4 billion last year, this crisis is devastating,’ said Bisignani, adding that it is ‘hitting hardest where the carriers are in the most difficult financial situation’.

Reports suggest that the UK travel industry’s recovery has also been put in peril, with the Centre for Economics and Business Research estimating that some £500 million of revenues were lost as a result of the flight-freeze chaos.

An irate Peter Long, boss of blue-chip holidays behemoth Tui Travel, which said it was losing between £5 million and £6 million a day during the crisis, described the UK government’s response to the volcanic ash events as ‘a shambles’.

He added, ‘It is clear that they underestimated the severity of the consequences of the decision for a blanket closure of the airspace for such a protracted period of time’.