New volcanic ash cloud threatens to close British airspace again

[Mellijelli]

This story is a little nervous hey? Saw on the tele the other night about the volcanic ash that is disrupting UK airlines all over the place, you can read the article here: Guardian.co.uk (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/20/iceland-volcano-air-transport).

As if the country does not have enough problems it still has to deal with natural disasters like this iv also heard that there are no import and export goods going out now too, retail is going to suffer now again, and the airlines are probably heavily burdened by it all also as some 22 000 flights had to be canceled the other day, people were stranded at the airports with no way to get home, some made plans to catch ferries and trains to their destinations instead or travel long distances by car to get where they needed to be.

Imagine how many people missed work because of all this? hope peoples jobs (http://www.careersandjobsuk.com/) will not be on the line for this that would just be tragic.

[m8internet]

there are no import and export goods going out now too
That's extremely exaggerated

About 18% of the UK trade (import / export) uses air transport
The rest uses shipping, road (via the chunnel or ferry), and rail

The main implication is for "fresh and perishable" items, and there are serious issues here as Europe imports a vast amount of this
However, goods within Europe are not likely to be affected
As a result, countries which would normally export outside the EU are looking to export internally within the EU
Ironically, the demand is expected to be there
Sadly this will mean some price rises (even though the items are closer to the UK!)

I have been tracking some containers I have coming from China, and they are unaffected
However I have noticed that some items I am expecting from USA and Canada have been put on "land mail" instead now
I enquired about this and DHL had also put them onto a container ship, so what would normally take 3 days is going to take about 10 days

These issues should all be over once the ice within the volcano has all been used up
From the latest pictures it looks as if that has now happened as the "steam" look of the eruption is not as severe as it was last week

[Dark Phoenyx]

hey guys.

I read the Sun (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2937770/Huge-cost-as-volcano-fallout-rocks-Britains-economy.html) yesterday and apparently there will be job losses. :confused:
Air companies are trying to save the money they lost as stocks plummet etc.

It also said that its unsure how long the eruption will carry on as its last one lasted almost 2 years.

:eek: I hope youre right m8internet. in all honesty, not too sure what will happen if it did go on for 2 years.

[Mellijelli]

I guess there are ways to work around it all but its going to take more time than before eg. via ship or rail or whatever the case may be.

In SA we normally export all the best fruit and veg to places like UK and Europe, if we had a crisis such as a volcanic eruption i dont think we would be short on produce, we have some of the best produce around, lots of farms and things in SA all over the place.

Dark Phoenyx lets hope it clears up soon an does not take as last time 2 years to do so.

They say now that the estimated cost to airlines of the volcanic ash cloud now stands at £1.1bn, and that they are now demanding government compensation because of poor decision making, British Airways alone puts its daily losses at up to £20m :eek: a lot of business lost right there..

[Poppy]

While I do understand that grounding the flights has cost them alot of money, I don't understand what blaming the government is going to help. Where is the money supposed to come from to pay them for the money they lost?

On the other hand, what would have happened if flights hadn't been grounded and there were a number of aeroplane crashes, with lot's of people dead and injured. Would the same have happened? The families claiming money from the government because they didn't stop the flights?

[Mellijelli]

Makes one think why the government has such debt issues doesn't it?

Seems like every natural disaster or problem that arises the government has to fork out funds for, should they not be responsible for their own things? And how exactly were the government gna predict something like volcanic ash from an eruption in Iceland? these things happen nothing to be done about really but start planning some solutions.

[Dark Phoenyx]

I agree. Its not like theyre psychic. and where maybe helping out with sone of the money, i dont think they should be responsible for all of it.

[Mellijelli]

The airlines should have some sort of fund set up for these kinds of things surely? Think everyone should leave the government out of their debt issues as they are drowning in their own right now.

[Dark Phoenyx]

The airlines should have some sort of fund set up for these kinds of things surely? Think everyone should leave the government out of their debt issues as they are drowning in their own right now.

True, but when the going gets tough, they all run to the gvt. Ive seen it here too. its like the gvt is the mother, and the corporations are the kids, and the mothers were too scared to teach the kids to be independant.

[Mellijelli]

It does'nt help that government is so corrupt also though, funds that are put in for certain areas such as natural disasters or whatever the case may be are taken to pocket, there has been much fraud in our government, one example is the RPG Houses fund that was supposed to be given to building simple dwellings for people who could not afford anything else, in many provinces was used to buy themselves big houses, cars and trips overseas, pathetic right?? Not talking about the UK government now but the SA government.

[Dark Phoenyx]

It does'nt help that government is so corrupt also though, funds that are put in for certain areas such as natural disasters or whatever the case may be are taken to pocket, there has been much fraud in our government, one example is the RPG Houses fund that was supposed to be given to building simple dwellings for people who could not afford anything else, in many provinces was used to buy themselves big houses, cars and trips overseas, pathetic right?? Not talking about the UK government now but the SA government.

its all over. I read in the express yesterday that the uk gvt has spent billions on silly stuff. I mean 1.5 billion in IT fees, 11 million in taxi fees? lol i wouldnt rack up that much debt on taxis. Id rather buy a car and drive meself.

[Mellijelli]

The liberal democrats have sworn to cut down on unnecessary government spending and get the economy back on track by cutting taxes for people like big business and the super rich who are exploiting tax loopholes and do not pay their fair share and also things like interest rates on houses to be done according to value and so on, hope they stick to what they say, id probably vote lib dems.

[Dark Phoenyx]

If i may just point a small fact out. So many governments promise the world to you to get your vote. Ive seen it everywhere.

They look at a country, and see where the weak points are, and they focus on that when adressing the voters. In most countries it seems to be work, and tax paters etc, so they will promise to make work, cut government spending, create jobs, housing, the works, just to get the extra "x" on the ballot paper.

And when that party is elected and rises to power? they dont fulfill half of what they promised to do.

The party that wins this time round in the UK have a veritible firestorm to deal with. They are going to have their work cut out for them to steer the country back to what it was before the recession.

And this is why i have always been sceptical about voting.

[Mellijelli]

Everyone is im sure aware of that yes, but the voting process has to go on regardless, most people say they want GB out of the running completely, others say they would rather vote for him and stick to what they know and think because with all his faults he would still be the one able to handle everything if he had to and make the big decisions, so they will be staying with the Brown vote. Lets see what the outcome is...

[Dark Phoenyx]

well its a hung parliament. for the first time in decades as well. so lets hope it all goes well, so its a good story for the history books.