BBC News - Airline body IATA condemns 'European embarrassment'

BBC News - Airline body IATA condemns 'European embarrassment': "And the French railway company SNCF has said it will offer reduced fares and 80,000 extra seats between Paris and London this week.
European aviation control agency Eurocontrol said only about 30% of the normal number of flights - 8,000 to 9,000 - would operate in Europe on Monday.
Mr Bisignani, of the International Air Transport Association, has said the scale of the crisis facing the airline industry is now greater than at the time of the 9/11 attacks on the US.
'The decision that Europe has made is with no risk assessment, no consultation, no co-ordination, no leadership,' he said.
'Europeans are still using a system based on a theoretical model which does not work... instead of using a system and taking decisions on facts and on risk assessment.'
He said airspace closures were costing airlines $200m (£130m) a day in lost revenue.
European airlines have asked the EU and national governments for financial compensation for the closure of airspace, British Airways says. BA estimates that it is losing between £15m and £20m a day.
IATA's Giovanni Bisignani condemns European governmentsAt the weekend, some European airlines staged test flights through parts of the ash trail blowing from Iceland, leading to questions about whether the current flight bans were necessary.
But Italy's civil aviation authority closed the country's northern airspace up to a height 22,000 feet (6,700m) until 0800 local time (0600 GMT) on Tuesday, after briefly opening it for two hours.
EU transport ministers are to hold emergency talks by video conference on the crisis.
EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas told a news briefing on Monday morning that the bloc would not compromise on the issue of passengers' safety."

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