LONDON — Airlines appealed to passengers to give up their seats to stranded travelers Saturday, as carriers across Europe attempted to clear a backlog of thousands of tourists grounded by the ash cloud spewed from Iceland’s volcano.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic appealed for passengers booked on long-haul flights in the next week to consider giving up their seats to make way for travelers still stuck after flight disruptions.
A week of airspace closures caused by ash clouds gusting from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano caused the worst breakdown in civil aviation in Europe since World War II. More than 100,000 flights were canceled, and airlines are on track to lose more than $2 billion.
“It’s a very difficult situation, and we’ve had to deal with a lot of complexity, aircraft stuck in different parts of the world, crew stuck in different parts of the world,” British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh said.
Flight authorities in Europe say the majority of the continent is now free of volcanic ash, and most airline services are operating as normal. Several carriers said they are adding extra flights to help the stranded return home.
Iceland’s civil protection agency said Eyjafjallajokull was still spewing ash but the plume was now about 1.8 miles high — not large enough to reach jet streams. Winds are gusting from the southeast — away from Europe, said Olof Baldursdottir of the civil protection agency.
Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland, said Eyjafjallajokull was being closely monitored and was spewing ash in much smaller quantities than at the beginning of its eruption.
