Volcanic ash cloud has economic fallout
Posted Apr 19, 2010 7:27 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The financial impact of grounding thousands of flights in and out of Europe over the past few days continues to grow.
Some estimates show European airlines racking up losses of up to $200 million a day.
Some small airlines in Europe are teetering on bankruptcy, with talk that if they don’t get goverment bailouts they will disappear from the sky.
Farmers and ranchers across the European continent are wondering what effect the ash will have on their crops and animals.
Shipments of fruits, vegetables, flour and grain to Europe from other parts of the world have ground to a halt.
The shipment of transplant organs has also been disrupted, delaying some life-saving surgeries.
The travel situation is so bad that Britain is thinking of using the Royal Naval fleet to go and get as many as 200,000 stranded travellers.
The Deputy Chief Economist at TD Financial says it’s going to be quite some time before the full economic impact of the volcanic ash cloud is tabulated.
However, Craig Alexander says not all the news is bad.
He says other transportation companies are cashing in and hotel operators the world over are seeing a rise in reservations with stranded travellers looking for a room while waiting for word on when they can complete their travel plans.
The Calgary Sun reports a number of hotels near the Calgary Airport were booked solid on the weekend, something they would not normally see at this time of year.
