With volcanic plumes disrupting flights for the fifth day, the Indian government Monday advised passengers to defer travel to European destinations unless it for an emergency purpose.
The advisory by the Civil Aviation Ministry came as over 41,000 passengers have been stranded following cancellation of the flights Europe and western countries.
With no signs of the volcanic cloud clearing,
Government put into operation a multi-pronged strategy.
It advised passengers to postpone their travel plans to European destinations unless it is for emergency purpose and absolutely necessary.
Government was also in talks with Greece to allow Indian carriers to pick up or deboard stranded passengers as all flights to and from Europe remained suspended.
Air India and Jet Airways operated flights to the US and Canada taking alternative routes to avoid the affected airspace.
Civil Aviation Secretary M Madhavan Nambiar said 41,435 outbound passengers in Delhi and Mumbai were affected by the shutdown, adding "the situation is still grim".
The airlines have been urging Embassies and High Commissions here to take care of the affected people from their countries. Most of them are destined for Europe.
While Air India and Jet resumed services to the US and Canada through Cairo and Athens respectively, all their flights and those of Kingfisher Airlines to Europe including London, Brussels and Paris, were cancelled today and are likely to remain so tomorrow, their spokespersons said.
Nambiar said the Ministry has warned the airlines not to charge excessive fares while asking passengers to re-book their tickets for which the flights have been cancelled.
Nambiar said the Civil Aviation Ministry has set up a control room, headed by a Joint Secretary, with officials from Ministry of External Affairs and the Directorate General of
Civil Aviation to help those stranded in India.
The Ministry is also understood to have written a letter to the Indian Home Ministry to extend the visas of stranded passengers for a few more days, sources said.
With global air traffic to and from Europe virtually coming to a halt after volcanic plumes from Iceland enveloped the European sky, Eurocontrol, which provides air navigation
services throughout the western continent, said about 9,000 flights to operated in Europe Monday compared as against the normal 28,126 flights on a Monday.
The Ministry has asked the airlines to not to "take benefit of the situation" and charge higher fares for the tickets.
Air India Monday resumed its Chicago-Mumbai-Chicago and Newark-Ahmedabad flights with a technical stopovers at Cairo, while Jet Airways operated Delhi-Toronto and Mumbai-Newark
services via Athens.
Air India would also operate a combined flight AI 191/144 on the Delhi-Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Newark-Mumbai to clear the backlog of passengers between India and Newark.
Kingfisher has cancelled its flights to London from Delhi and Mumbai.
Five of Air India's planes are stuck in foreign airports. Two are stuck at London and one each at Frankfurt, Chicago and New York due to the disruption.
The Eurocontrol said currently, air traffic control services were not being provided to civil aircraft in the major part of European airspace.
This includes Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark,Estonia, Finland, parts of France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland,the Netherlands, northern Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovenia,Switzerland, parts of Ukraine and the UK.
While in some areas, the upper airspace has been made available, it is difficult to access this airspace as in most cases the surrounding area is not available for flights, the
Eurocontrol said.
Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) today sharply criticized European governments for their
lack of leadership in handling airspace restrictions in the wake of the volcanic eruption.
"This crisis is costing airlines at least USD 200 million a day in lost revenues and the European economy is suffering billions of dollars in lost business. In the face of such dire economic consequences, it is incredible that
Europe's transport ministers have taken five days to organize a teleconference," IATA's Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said in a statement.
"Governments must place greater urgency and focus on how and when we can safely re-open Europe's skies. This means decisions based on risk-management, facts and utilizing operational procedures that maintain safety," he said.