Humber ports benefit from volcanic ash cloud

YORKSHIRE’S airports may be counting the cost of the ongoing travel crisis caused by the volcanic ash cloud but the region’s ports are set to benefit.

As airlines, including Yorkshire-based Jet2.com, continue to cancel flights because of the volcanic eruption in Iceland, ferry operators are seeing a spike in passenger numbers as people continue to look for alternative ways to travel.

And although regional sea freight operators have not yet seen a marked increase in journeys, many believe they will be able to capitalise on the crisis if the ban on flights continues later in the week.

Despite hope that services were set to resume in Yorkshire today, experts have estimated that the cost to British and Irish scheduled airlines from the closure of British airspace is between £26m and £28m a day. 

Martin Jenkins, tourism and hospitality leader for Deloitte in Leeds, said: “After five days of airspace lockdown due to a volcanic ash cloud from Iceland currently floating above northern Europe, the estimated cost to the airlines so far is at least £130m.

“Although some direct operational expenses such as fuel costs, landing charges and certain staff costs will not be incurred, they still have large fixed costs to meet such as operating lease rentals, paying staff and the loss of margin on ticket sales.

“The big concern is if there is further volcanic activity and the wind continues to blow in the direction of the UK. Following one of the worst year’s for financial performance the aviation industry has ever seen, a prolonged period of losses for an industry that is already in a difficult financial position could have serious repercussions.”

Mike Morton, director at Robin Hood Airport in Doncaster, said the airport hoped to recoup lost revenue from cancellations later in the year.

Mr Morton said, however, that tenants in the airport such as taxi firms and concessions, were also being financially hit.

Peter Aarosin, chief executive of Hull-based shipping, stevedoring and storage warehousing company RMS Group, said he expected freight services to increase out of the Humber ports of Hull, Grimsby, Goole and Immingham if flight cancellations continued.

But Mr Aarosin said suppliers were still wary of sending perishables abroad by boat if an end to the flight ban was in sight.

He said he knew of at least one ferry operator which was trying to get more boats out to sea to capitalise on the number of passengers wanting to travel.

A spokesman for P&O, which runs both passenger and freight services out of Hull, said: “Passenger numbers have certainly risen since flights were cancelled and we are expecting the volume to increase.

“Freight services have yet to see an increase but it depends on how long this crisis goes on. However, freight h ubs like Hull could see a pick up.”

Richard Kendall, policy executive at Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce, said passenger numbers arriving and departing on ferries from and to Hull were up.

Tony Hallwood, commercial and aviation development director at Leeds Bradford International Airport, said despite ongoing frustration at the lack of activity at the airport, flight cancellations had allowed important engineering and maintenance works to take place while passengers remained away from the site.

Mr Hallwood said: “It’s a challenging time for airports, airlines and passengers but safety is paramount and airlines won’t launch until they think it’s safe to do so.”

He added: “Some of the jobs that we have planned at the airport we’ve brought forward while there’s no activity. There’s a great deal of planning for the future and for our operational structure.”

Meanwhile, Leeds-based low cost airline Jet2.com and Jet2holidays.com, owned by Dart Group, have offered to bring stranded passengers back to the UK.

More than 300 ski passengers from Chambery and Geneva arrived at Leeds Bradford airport yesterday morning in coaches and Jet2.com has agreed to bus as many passengers as possible home from across Europe over the coming few days.  

More than 70 coaches have been commissioned to return customers stranded in Spain, Portugal, and the Czech Republic to the UK as soon as possible. 

The airline has also chartered flights from Lanzarote, Tenerife and Palma to fly passengers to mainland Europe who will then complete their journey to the UK by coach.

Ian Doubtfire, managing director of Jet2.com, said: “We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience being felt by our customers and are doing everything in our power to return them to the UK as quickly as possible. My colleagues and I are literally working 24 hours a day to achieve this.”

The launch of new easyJet routes from Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield to Amsterdam, Prague, Barcelona, Faro and Majorca scheduled for yesterday with an inaugural flight to Amsterdam have been delayed because of the volcanic ash.

A spokesperson for Humberside Airport said it wanted to “express our sincere gratitude to passengers for their continuing patience and cooperation in these unprecedented circumstances”.

Eastern Airways, based at Humberside Airport, has also apologised to passengers for any inconvenience caused.

A UKTI spokesman said: “We are advising companies affected by the air travel ban cloud to implement contingency plans and take advantage of technology where possible.

“It’s often smaller firms that forget to have such plans, but the recent Swine Flu epidemic certainly helped to remind people about contingency planning

“From our perspective, we have seen a number of trade visits cancelled including to the Baltic States and Seoul.”