Passenger Travel in Europe Increases

Two years after the financial crisis that affected countries across the globe, it seems that there are some improvements in business particularly air travel.

According to the AEA, or the Association of European Airlines, data shows that for the month of June this year, the passenger traffic in Europe has returned to its normal rate before the strike of the recession. This means that the number of air travellers in Europe has reached figures similar to that before the financial crisis.
More and more passengers are booking themselves on longer flights this year, thereby increasing passenger kilometres to eight per cent compared to data from June 2009. When making your plans to Europe and beyond ck with EuropebyAir for our insider fares.

Volcanic ash may return to Europe

European air traffic agency Eurocontrol said on Monday areas of higher ash concentration could move from over the Atlantic Ocean back toward the Iberian peninsula, threatening fresh airspace closures in Portugal and Spain.
Europe has been dogged for weeks by repeated shutdowns of air traffic since an erupting volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland started spewing ash in April.
Hundreds of flights were canceled over the weekend after the shifting cloud sparked fresh fears of engine-clogging ash.
Italy and Germany reopened their airspace on Sunday, but restrictions were left in place in parts of Portugal, Spain, Austria and the United Kingdom.
The biggest closure so far lasted for almost a week from April 15, causing about 100,000 flight cancellations, stranding millions of passengers and costing airlines more than $1.7 billion in lost revenue.
Volcanic ash is abrasive and can strip off aerodynamic surfaces and paralyze aircraft engines. It can also damage aircraft electronics and windshields.
The most recent closures led to fresh criticism of how air traffic authorities are handling the situation. Germany's Lufthansa and Air Berlin called for authorities to gather data on ash particles rather than just relying on computer models.
Europe's airlines are now starting to tally up the ash cloud's damage to their business in terms of passenger numbers.
Air France-KLM said it lost nearly a quarter of its European passenger traffic in April due to airspace closures from the volcanic ash cloud, driving total traffic down 16 percent.
Irish airline Aer Lingus said it carried over a quarter fewer passengers. UK airports handled 23 percent fewer passengers in April, owners Ferrovial said.
Fraport, operator of Frankfurt airport in Germany, is due to publish its April traffic figures as well as first-quarter results on Tuesday.
The hit to April passenger traffic comes just as airlines around the world start to recover from a severe drop in traffic that reached its severest point in March 2009.
According to industry body International Air Transport Association, the world's airlines lost about $9.4 billion last year as customers curbed spending during the recession.
They stand to lose another $2.8 billion this year, excluding any impact of the volcanic ash cloud.
Air France-KLM reiterated that every day on which it has to completely suspend its flights lowers its net operating result by 35 million euros.
Lufthansa, which is due to publish traffic figures on Tuesday, has said it lost almost 200 million euros due to volcanic ash in April.
The snafu over the weekend will likely cost Lufthansa a few more million euros and be visible when traffic figures for May are released," LBBW analyst Per-Ola Hellgren said.
Shares of Lufthansa were up 2.5 percent by 1318 GMT, Air France was 5.8 percent higher and Aer Lingus had gained 3.8 percent as a rescue package to tackle the euro zone debt crisis lifted markets across Europe.
For updates you can go to EuropebyAir.com and also ck on our latest low cost flights to Europe and beyond.

Volcanic Ash! - Does my Trip Insurance Cover Me?

The Travel Guard Group, USA reports it has seen call volumes increase up to 300% because of the volcanic ash issues. Hold times were kept to a minimum as cross trained employees were shifted from other areas of the company to assist callers to their 24/7 Service Center. Tom Zavadsky, Exec. V.P. of Sales and Marketing offers some interesting questions regarding coverage... worth sharing.
The below questions and answers apply to policies purchased through Travel Guard Group, Inc. USA (Travel Guard).

Question One: "I am scheduled for future travel and purchased my insurance policy prior to this volcanic event. If this volcano subsides and then erupts again, causing my future travel plans to be disrupted, will this be considered unforeseen and could coverage apply?"
Answer: Under most of our US products, you would be covered based on your purchase date being prior to April 14, 2010, subject to policy terms and conditions. We encourage you to contact our 24/7 Service Center or your Travel Guard sales representatives with additional questions as coverage and benefits vary by product.
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Question Two: "I am scheduled to travel this summer and have not yet purchased a policy. If I purchase a policy today and a future eruption of the Iceland volcano occurs would I be covered?"
Answer: If the current Iceland Volcano situation subsides and commercial airlines resume normal schedules prior to your trip, any new eruption would be considered a new event under our US policies. Coverage would be administered according to the product purchased (based on limits) and 24/7 Service Center or your Travel Guard sales representatives with additional questions as coverage and benefits vary by product.

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Question Three: "I have insurance and am scheduled to fly out later this week. What should I do if my flight is cancelled?"
Answer:The first call you should make is to your air carrier as all airlines have made rebooking passengers impacted by this event a priority. That said, please contact Travel Guard for additional assistance, both for flight rebooking and to initiate a claim if applicable.
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Question Four: "What is the coverage cut-off date for the current Iceland volcano event?"
Answer: Eligible US plans would need to have been purchased before April 14, 2010.
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Question Five: "My customers are stranded away from home. What can you do to help them?"
Answer: Our 24/7 assistance centers stand ready to help you and your customers. Our services include flight rebooking, hotel rebooking, cash wire transfers, translation services, message relay and more. Our worldwide reach has also helped our insureds avoid spending nights in airports, as we have helped get them accommodated in hotels during their delays.
For airlines telephone numbers CLICK HERE.

Ash Cloud Update for Wednesday April 21 and contact numbers

Europe's skies reopened for business on Wednesday but it could take days or weeks to clear the six-day backlog. Here is a list of countries as of 1500 GMT on Wednesday and their airspace status: CLICK HERE for airline telephone numbers.

AUSTRIA - Airspace open as of 0300 GMT Monday.
BELGIUM - Belgium began allowing planes to land on Tuesday. Some flight departures were allowed from 1200 GMT Tuesday.
BOSNIA - Airports open (see Serbia entry).
BRITAIN - Britain reopened its airspace on Tuesday night. British Airways say it will operate all its long-haul flights departing from Heathrow and Gatwick airports on Wednesday, but there would be short-haul cancellations to and from London airports until 1200 GMT.
BULGARIA - All airspace and airports open.
CZECH REPUBLIC - Airspace and airports open as of 1000 GMT on Monday. Prague Airport plans to handle 322 flights on Wednesday, around 83 percent of normal operations.
DENMARK - All airspace and airports remain open until at least 0600 GMT on Thursday.
ESTONIA - Airspace open.
FINLAND - Finavia closed the main Helsinki-Vantaa airport on Wednesday afternoon after opening it for a few hours earlier. Finnair said it would cancel all domestic and European traffic, along with departing long-haul flights. Besides Helsinki, the airports in Turku, Malmi, Lappeenranta and Mariehamn are also closed. The situation would be reviewed at 2100 GMT, but expected restrictions on southern Finland's airspace would continue.
FRANCE - All French long-haul flights should be departing as normal, but flights to some northern European airports could still be suspended. Air France-KLM said in a statement its network was almost back to normal.
GERMANY - Air traffic control said German airspace would be open by 0900 GMT. Airports in the cities of Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, and Hanover were open. About 700 flights, or about half of the usual number, were expected to take off and land in Frankfurt on Wednesday, airport operator Fraport say. It will take at least 24 hours or even several days until flight operations have returned to normal.
HUNGARY - Hungarian airspace is fully open, the air traffic authority said around 0800 GMT on Tuesday.
IRELAND - Flights in Northern Europe (except flights between Ireland and the UK) to operate as scheduled from 0400 GMT Thursday. Flights between Ireland and UK will resume normal schedules from 0400 GMT on Friday.
ITALY - Airspace has completely reopened.
LATVIA - Airspace open.
LUXEMBOURG - Luxembourg Airport reopened at 0800 GMT Tuesday.
MOLDOVA - Resumed international flights from 0730 GMT Tuesday.
MONTENEGRO - Airports open (see Serbia).
NETHERLANDS - Passenger flights began on Monday. Night flights resumed on Tuesday.
NORWAY - All Norway's airspace, including over offshore oil installations, is open until 1200 GMT. Airport authority Avinor anticipates that the airspace will remain open until tonight.
POLAND - Poland was reopening its airspace from 0500 GMT.
PORTUGAL - All airports have been open throughout the crisis -- its airspace has not been affected.
ROMANIA - Airspace fully reopened.
RUSSIA - All airports open. Aeroflot is flying to the United States via the North Pole.
SERBIA - Air traffic control said most of the air space in its area of responsibility (Serbia, Montenegro, parts of Bosnia and Southern Adriatic) is again affected by the volcanic ash cloud. It will decide every six hours whether to close airspace partially or completely. Airports in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia are currently open for traffic.
SLOVAKIA - Airspace and airports open as of 1240 GMT on Monday. Bratislava airport has resumed operation of flights, but no heavy traffic as Ryanair, operating most of the flights to and from Slovakia, has suspended all flights until Thursday 1100 GMT.
SLOVENIA - Slovenian airspace was opened at 1000 GMT on Tuesday. It had been partly closed since 0200 GMT Tuesday.
SPAIN - 17 airports open.
SWEDEN - Stockholm Arlanda airport will reopen at 1400 GMT. Aviation authority say bans on flying through most of Swedish airspace would be gradually lifted throughout the day.
SWITZERLAND - Geneva and Zurich airports reopened on Tuesday morning though some flights were cancelled at both.
TURKEY - All airports open. Flight restrictions at certain altitudes in three Black Sea cities have been lifted.
UKRAINE - Major airline MAU say it plans to conduct all regular flights, including flights to Europe.
(Reuters)

Ash Cloud update. Flights Pick Up In Europe As Ash Risk Lowered

European airports started to return to life on Today after five days cut off from the rest of the world by a volcanic ash cloud, as authorities downgraded the risk the ash posed to aircraft.

Britain, a major global air hub as well as a busy destination in its own right that has been squarely under the ash plume, said it would reopen all its airspace within hours, giving a huge boost to travellers and air freight.
The progressive reopening offered stranded passengers relief after days of frustration since no-fly zones were imposed on Thursday.
European aviation control agency Eurocontrol said on Tuesday about half of scheduled air traffic in Europe was expected to operate: about 14,000 flights, up from a third on Monday.

Britain had lagged its European neighbours in downgrading the threat to planes from the ash, which can potentially scour and even paralyse jet engines. Maybe I will finally receive my FedEx envelope missing for a week?
CLICK HERE for airline phone numbers...

Is it really going to cost a buck and a half to use the toilet

Word is speading that Irish low cost carrier, Ryanair is working with aircraft manufacturer Boeing to develop a coin-operated toilet so it can charge customers one British Pound (1.50 U.S.) to use the toilets on short-haul flights lasting less than an hour. Hmmm...one may have to cut back on the beer drinking..or hope flight attendants have lots of change...
Always check with EuropebyAir.com for cheap fares to and within Europe.

We're Giving a Free Flight Pass to Some Lucky Winner..

EuropebyAir is having a new promotion! All you have to do is post our website address www.europebyair.com on your favorite forum (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) between now & February 22, 2010. Then email ebamarketing@europebyair.net to be entered in our drawing to win a free FlightPass from EuropebyAir!. Include your name, city & state where you reside, the location you posted our link at with the URL if applicable, and a valid email address where we can notify you if you win! That's it....except you may want to pass this along to your friends that send you all those crazy email jokes, so they can participate as well. Good Luck!
*No purchase necessary; Only (1) entry per email address allowed; Promotional give-away is for (1) FlightPass. EuropebyAir flight passes are good on particiapating airlines within Europe.
You can also check out our website EuopebyAir.com for fantastic deals to, within and beyond Europe.

London Fares are Falling Down

Falling down, Falling down,...NYC to LONDON round trip for $200 bucks.. LONDON from LAX & HOUSTON...for less than $300 bucks....fares do not include fees & taxes.
EuropebyAir offers the real deals to Europe and beyond EuropebyAir.com  You call we answer  1-888-321-4737.

Black Friday - Europe on Sale Through Sunday 11/29/09

Black Friday special - very low fares to Amsterdam, Paris, Milan, Rome, Vienna and Athens, good for travel commencing any time from 1 January through 31 March 2010, and allowing a stay of up to 11 months.
Fares to any of these cities are $498 from JFK, EWR, PHL, BWI and IAD; $518 from MIA, MCO, TPA, ATL and ORD, and $578 from DFW, IAH, DEN, PHX, LAX, LAS, SEA and SFO. The fares include fuel surcharges, but taxes and fees of about $165 are extra. Other restrictions, etc, apply.
If you're thinking of treating yourself to a winter or very early spring break to Europe, you only have until midnight on Sunday 11/29/09 . For more details on line EuropebyAir or call 1-888-321-4737