Gulf carriers lose millions over ash cloud

The disruption caused by the Icelandic volcano eruption in April lead to million dollar losses in revenue for UAE airlines.

Flights to the UK and airports on mainland Europe were suspended for six days due to the ash cloud from the eruption, affecting tens of thousand of passengers.

Emirates Airline said it lost in excess of US$10million a day resulting in losses of around $66 million. Around 30 Emirates aircraft were grounded, equivalent to one fifth of its fleet, and 18,000 passengers a day were impacted by the flight ban.

Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline said: “The scale of this crisis is unlike anything I have experienced in my career. The longer it continues the more complex the recovery process becomes. These are losses which are coming straight out of our own pocket. But despite this not being a crisis of our own making, we are doing everything possible to minimise the impact on customers.”

Emirates paid for hotel accommodation and three meals a day for strandedpassengers at a cost of more than $1 million per day.

Etihad Airways also suffered losses amounting to about $30 million due to the situation.

The carrier said 16,000 of its passengers had been affected worldwide by the disruption and 2,500 passengers had been put up in hotels in Abu Dhabi with each passenger receiving receiving breakfast, lunch and dinner at the hotel paid for by the airline.