ICELAND VOLCANO STRANDS HUNDREDS OF ARMENIANS IN EUROPE

Asbarez
Apr 20th, 2010

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-Hundreds of Armenian nationals remain stranded at
airports across Europe because of the huge cloud of volcanic ash
hanging over the continent, Armenia’s civil aviation authority said
on Tuesday.

According to the Armenian government’s Civil Aviation Department,
a total of 17 flights from Yerevan to several major European cities
have been cancelled since an incessant stream of ash from an Icelandic
volcano forced the closure of much of European airspace on April 15.

The Czech national airline CSA carried out on Monday the first flight
to Armenia since the unprecedented disruption. Aram Marutian, the
deputy head of the Civil Aviation Department, told RFE/RL’s Armenian
service that 140 mostly Armenian passengers arrived in Yerevan on
board a CSA plane from Prague.

Marutian said another carrier, Austrian Airlines, will also likely
resume its regular flight service between Vienna and Yerevan later on
Tuesday. "We are working with the airline to make sure that they use
a bigger aircraft so that we can increase the number of passengers
and return everyone to Armenia as soon as possible," he said.

In Marutian’s words, a total of some 750 Armenians are still unable to
return home, while more than a 1,100 others have had to delay trips
to Europe and the United States because of the crisis. About one
third of them have handed back their air tickets to travel, he added.

The official also said that the volcanic eruption has not disrupted
flight services with Russia and other former Soviet republics which
account for most of air travel to and from Armenia.

Millions of people have been stranded across the globe since Europe
began shutting down airspace six days ago. A gradual reopening of
airports in northern and central Europe, which began on Monday, was
called into question by new spurts of ash from the Eyjafjallajokull
volcano reported on Tuesday. Authorities in Iceland said the volcanic
activity there is still "considerable," leading some countries,
including Britain and Norway, to scrap plans to end their lockdown.