“A COMPLETE nightmare” is how two Limerick holidaymakers trapped in Alicante described the situation surrounding the closure of airspace throughout Europe since last Wednesday.
Annmarie Quin and Bron O’Loughlin, two employees of the Limerick Post, were due to fly home on Saturday after a short break in Spain, but were still in Alicante Airport when they spoke to this reporter on Wednesday morning.
“We rang the Irish Embassy who gave us a number to ring, which was a wrong number”, said a distressed Annmarie.
“We then rang the helpline and all they could say was that we would get home ‘eventually’. We’re flying with Ryanair and they’ve been no help either”.
The pair booked new flights for this Wednesday (April 21) but on arrival at the airport they discovered the flight was cancelled. They then booked a ferry from Cherbourg to Cork, but due to a rail strike in Southern France it was not possible to get there in time.
Adding to the frustration, Annmarie said that there were five Ryanair planes on the airport’s runway and none were taking off today.
“There are loads of other people stuck here so we all finally decided to book a coach, which will leave Alicante at 2pm today and arrive in London Victoria at 9pm tomorrow night – Thursday. Then we still have to figure out how to get to Ireland and we’ve already spent a fortune on travel!”
Theirs is just one example of thousands of Irish people who were trapped abroad due to the presence of volcanic ash drifting from Iceland, following the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano on April 14.
While Irish airspace officially reopened this Wednesday, the Irish Aviation Authority warned that it could take up to three days for full services to resume.
“The IAA have advised that Irish airspace is open for flight operations, but have also indicated that normal operations may take up to three days to recover”, Shannon Airport spokesperson Claire McEnery told the Limerick Post.
“There will be limited flight operations today as airlines try to recover and reposition aircraft in preparation for a full return to their flight schedule.”
She was unable to provide concrete information beyond Wednesday.
Ryanair have grounded European flights until at least lunchtime on Thursday, while connections to the UK will not recommence until 1pm on Friday.
Most Aer Lingus flights resumed at lunch time on Wednesday, however passengers are being catered for on a first book first served basis, rather
than being automatically booked on flights.
Both Ryanair and Aer Lingus claimed to be losing between €6million and €5 million a day as a result of the crisis.
