Air express shipments in Europe have been massively disrupted today and yesterday by thewidespread closure of airports following the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland
and the resulting cloud of volcanic ash that has spread southwards across Europe.DHL, TNT, FedEx and UPS all warned customers that shipments would be disrupted or delayed atleast 24 hours as a result of the airport closures in the UK, Scandinavia, Benelux, most ofGermany, northern France and several other European countries. Their European air hubs are allclosed as of late Friday afternoon.
About 16,000 passenger and cargo flights at European airports had to be cancelled today and some8,000 flights were called off yesterday, according to Eurocontrol, the European air traffic controlorganisation. Airports affected include Liege, where TNT has its air hub, Paris Charles de Gaulle,FedEx’s European hub, Cologne/Bonn, where the UPS hub is located, and Leipzig, the site of the DHLExpress hub.
“Forecasts suggest that the cloud of volcanic ash is continuing to move east and south-east andthat the impact will continue for at least the next 24 hours,” Eurocontrol stated in an update thisafternoon.
DHL Express said today that shipments to and from affected European countries are delayed up to24 hours but goods are being transferred to road transport services in order to provide export andimport services. In addition, some flights have been re-routed. Leipzig airport is currently closedbut the hub operated normally last night, DHL said.
TNT Express also said it is switching international shipments from air to road transportationand warned customers of delays of up to 24 hours in their deliveries. “At present some deliveriesare subject to delays of up to 24 hours but TNT is addressing this situation by increasing thevolumes of parcels and packages switching from air to road deliveries,” the company stated.
UPS also issued a service update informing customers about the eruption with a resultingdisruption to UPS air traffic and shipments to and from Europe likely to be delayed. “UPS isclosely monitoring the situation which is changing from one hour to the next, and will makeadjustments to its network as necessary to best serve its customers. UPS service guarantees do notapply when transportation networks are disrupted,” the company added.
FedEx Express also sent out a customer message saying it is experiencing flight delays with anumber of airports being closed across Europe. As a result, inbound and outbound shipments from andto the affected areas may experience service delays, the company reported. “We are taking steps tomanage through this event to provide our customers with the best possible service under thesecircumstances. Operational contingency plans have been put in place and as far as possible,shipments are being routed to non-affected airports or trucked by road.”
In France, the civil aviation authority (DGAC) closed all airports in the North of France andParis from 23:00 yesterday evening. In Belgium, Belgocontrol, the air traffic organisation, closedBelgian airspace as from 16.30 on Thursday for an undetermined period of time. In Germany, allflights at major airports including Frankfurt, Cologne/Bonn, Leipzig, Hamburg and Düsseldorf havebeen suspended but Munich was still open late on Friday afternoon.
In addition, several airlines with a particular importance for the integrators also issuedstatements about air traffic disruption caused by Icelandic volcanic ash.
Lufthansa Cargo said: “Like all other airlines, Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo must comply withdirectives issued by authorities and air traffic control. In Germany many airports have shut down.Furthermore, since 8:00h local time Frankfurt Airport suspended all flights. Cancellations anddelays are the result. For intra-European transports Lufthansa Cargo will be able to truck theshipments to the destinations.” The company added that it is not possible to predict in present howthe air traffic situation in Europe will progress. “Lufthansa Cargo is keeping a close eye ondevelopments and is in constant contact with the relevant ministries, aviation authorities,meteorological services and airports,” the company confirmed.
Air France KLM said it expects today at least 100 flight cancellations after cancelling 200flights from Paris airports on Thursday.
