Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
PARIS -(Dow Jones)- European airports and airlines on Sunday called for a reassessment of Europe-wide flight restrictions that have caused passenger traffic chaos throughout the region.
A joint statement released by the Association of European Airlines and the European branch of Airports Council International calling for an "immediate reassessment of the present restrictions at European level," that have been introduced to avoid the threat of aircraft accidents due to a cloud of volcanic ash drifting over much of Europe.
The statement highlights growing criticism of the drastic measures imposed by European civil aviation authorities.
"For the fourth consecutive day, airlines and airports across Europe are facing the unprecedented closure of almost all the continent's air space, due to the threat of volcanic ash dispersion. The situation has resulted in the total standstill of intra-European mobility by air, coupled with a huge ripple effect on long-haul aviation to the US, Asia and elsewhere," the statement says.
"With over 63,000 flights canceled since Thursday, many millions of passengers affected so far and a devastating impact for the aviation industry, the consequences are now expanding to the wider economy given the reliance of businesses on aviation," the AEA and ACI said.
"While Europe's airlines and airports consider safety to be an absolute priority, they are questioning the proportionality of the flight restrictions currently imposed. The eruption of the Icelandic volcano is not an unprecedented event and the procedures applied in other parts of the world for volcanic eruptions do not appear to require the kind of restrictions that are presently being imposed in Europe."
Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, Secretary General of the AEA, noted that verification flights carried out by some airlines over the weekend "have revealed no irregularities at all; this confirms our requirement that other options should be deployed to determine genuine risk."
Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI Europe, said European airports have lost close to EUR136 million so far due to the flight restrictions that began on Thursday.
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