European flight chaos to cost Gulf carriers millions
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The chaos to European flights caused by volcanic ash from Iceland polluting the airspace will cost Gulf-based carries millions of dollars.
By Sunday (18 April) - just five days into the crisis - Emirates Airline, which operates the most flights to Europe of any of the GCC airlines, said the disruption had already cost the carrier US$50 million.
“Emirates is losing revenue from 18,000 passengers a day as airspace across the UK and much of Europe remains closed,” said an Emirates statement.
“Around 30 Emirates aircraft are grounded - equivalent to one fifth of the fleet and to date, over 80,000 passengers have been impacted by the ongoing disruption.”
Emirates Airline President Tim Clark said the longer the situation continued, “the more complex the recovery process becomes”.
“Like every carrier operating to Europe, Emirates is facing huge losses - $10 million a day in our case.”
The only other airline to go on the record with a calculation of the disruption cost impact is British Airways.
The UK carrier’s Chief Executive Willie Walsh said the airline was losing
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