First flight to London in 5 days takes off

The day was also marked by chaos for stranded passengers,as airline officials remained clueless about resumption in daily services,with fresh eruptions from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland spewing ash more than 15,000 feet into the sky sending fresh ash clouds into Europe on Tuesday,dashing hopes of resumption of daily services to Europe.

British citizens Helen Nashsteer and Paul Alexander managed to find seats on Jet Airways’ 1.45 am London flight scheduled for Wednesday. Their excitement was short-lived as they got a call saying the flight was cancelled. “They had 16 seats free on the plane. We were excited,our hopes were up but when we returned to our hotel we got a call from the airline saying the flight was cancelled,” Helen said trying to get the latest update at the airline’s Churchgate office.

It was worse for their friends on Jet’s flight 9W118. They had even boarded the plane but departure was cancelled after it taxied to the runway,according to Helen.

On Tuesday European Air Safety body Eurocontrol partially relaxed the flight ban. Airport officials said flight operation teams of all major Indian carriers are in touch with Eurocontrol.

Other international carriers are gradually beginning operations. German carrier Lufthansa will operate two flights from Germany to India. Air India and Kingfisher are expected to begin operations by tomorrow if there is an improvement in the situation.

A senior pilot said most Trans-Atlantic flights would operate on visual flight rules (VFR) and fly at considerably lower altitudes. “We have rescheduled our flights and are awaiting confirmation,” said a Jet Airways’ spokesperson.

Air India said in a statement it may resume its London operations on Wednesday subject to clearance.

Five-year-old Amy Hartiman,missed her first day back in school on Monday. She,along with her family and friends,have been stranded in Mumbai for two days. Residents of Billericay,Essex,Jo Hartiman and Rachel Kabo,holidayed in Goa and the family was supposed to head for Heathrow on Saturday,when they found themselves grounded in Mumbai.

Fallout: Price of roses to dip
Roses are expected to get cheaper in Mumbai over the next few days as flowers for export could find their way into the local markets. Flower exports had been on hold because of airspace restrictions over Europe. April,a low season for flower exports,sees around two tonnes of cut flowers being flown to European markets every day from Mumbai airport.

Since last Wednesday,Talegaon based B N Raskar has been unable to send two shipments of roses to London. Since then,he has been selling his flowers in Mumbai,Pune and Hyderabad at a loss of over 50 per cent. “One cannot compare prices in local and export markets. We will be selling at a loss till exports resume,” Raskar said. “Around five other flower growers from Talegaon have not been able to send their export shipments,” he said.  

“Exporters are dumping their produce in local markets. This will affect returns but it is also bound to spell doom for local flower growers who will naturally be not able to match the flowers for export in quality and will get even less for their flowers,” said Megha Borse,president of Flower Growers’ Association,Maharashtra.