Volcanic ash forces Vietnam to cancel more flights

Vietnam Airlines has cancelled two flights scheduled for April 19 – the VN534 Paris-Hanoi and VN544 Frankfurt-Hanoi – due to ash from an erupting volcano in Iceland.

Earlier, from April 16-18, Vietnam Airlines cancelled eight flights on the routes Paris-Ho Chi Minh City, Frankfurt-Hanoi, HCM City-Frankfurt, Hanoi-Paris, Frankfurt-Ho Chi Minh City , Paris-Hanoi, Hanoi-Moscow and Moscow-Hanoi.

All the passengers will receive financial support for any inconvenience caused by the cancellations, said the airline.

The Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull’s unusual eruption on April 14 has disrupted transport links and communications across Europe, especially by air.

Since then, European airlines have had to cancel numerous flights as a result of airports and airspace being closured.

Eurocontrol, the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation, said that over 18,000 flights in Europe’s airspace were cancelled on April 17 alone.

Meanwhile, the US and Asian-Pacific airlines have confirmed that they had had to cancel numerous flights to Europe. The Air Transport Association of America said that about 84 percent of the 337 flights run by its members to and from Europe had been cancelled.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has estimated that the volcanic ash is causing losses of at least 200 million US$ to the world’s aviation industry each day.

Many European airlines have now decided to raise the altitude limit for their aircraft as the volcano is expected to continue turning out ash for the next few days.

VNA

Tags: Vietnam airlines, Vietnam aviation, Volcanic ash in Ireland