European Airport Shutdown Warranted

(Aired on April 26, 2010)

Airlines around the world have been in an uproar over the closure of many European airports the past couple of weeks because of that volcano in Iceland. Some are saying that governments were far too hasty in shutting down the airports before they knew the extent of the ash. It's now widely believed that the total shutdown implemented throughout Northern Europe may have been a bit hasty, costing airlines billions of dollars trying to recover and move passengers around.

So are we to believe that the airlines would rather we risk life and limb, not only of their own staff flying those planes, but hundreds of thousands of passengers? Is that what they would have us think? That it's okay to take chances with peoples' lives for the sake of a few dollars.

I'm fully aware of the cost incurred, the hassle trying to reroute hundreds of thousands of unhappy vacationers back to their homes. But would we rather have had a crash claiming several hundred lives because we didn't take appropriate action? Officials had to make a pretty quick decision. They consulted the people who should know. Acting on the best information available, they shut things down. Absolutely the most appropriate move to take. Discretion is virtually always the better part of valour, and it certainly is in this case. Can you imagine the outcry if just one plane had crashed because officials decided it wasn't a danger to fly through all that ash?

Unfortunately for the airlines, unforeseen occurrences are part of the game. And all they can do now is try to get back on track the best they can. Don't blame people for closing the airports. They did everything they should have.