The volcanic ash hanging over Europe has mushroomed into a dark 1.5 billion dollar cloud with no hope of a silver lining, analysts warned. Airlines and other travel industry sectors already face a bill of more than 1.2 billion euros (1.5 billion dollars) from the four-day closure of European airspace, analysts said.
And they added that the longer the disruption goes on the bigger the threat to the European economies struggling to come out of recession. European carriers such as KLM, Lufthansa and Air Berlin are stepping up pressure to get passenger carrying jets back in the air. They have questioned scientists claims that the mineral dust blown over Europe from a volcano in Iceland is a threat to jet engines.
While the European Union is investigating the extent of losses, Brussels Airlines has already called for government help to survive. Many of their counterparts are also in a desperate state.
Crisis advisory company Lewis PR estimated that the shutdown has so far cost the European travel industry more than 1.0 billion pounds (1.2 billion euros/1.5 billion dollars) in cancelled flights, lost hotel rooms and empty cruise liners.