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Volcanic ash over Europe
Photo: Reuters
Waiting at Charles de Gaulle airport
Photo: Reuters

Thousands of Israelis forced to celebrate independence in Europe

EU says hopes to see 10-15% increase in flight departures Monday, but meanwhile Israeli may have to mark country's 62nd anniversary in hotel lobbies or spend $1,000 on ticket home. 'Why screw us twice,' one of them says

Close to 20,000 Israelis who had hoped to celebrate Independence Day in Israel will have to spend it in Europe, as many airports throughout the continent remain closed despite reports that the Icelandic volcano ash cloud which has paralyzed air travel appears to be easing.

 

Some Israelis are having a hard time boarding a plane home even in airports that are open due to the long waiting lists and lines.

 

Some 200 Israelis are stranded in Budapest, Hungary. The local airport has reopened, but they were told that seats aboard Israel-bound flights will only be available starting Saturday night.

 

Meanwhile, they'll have to celebrate Israel's 62nd anniversary at the lobbies of their hotel rooms or pony up $1,000 to book an earlier flight.

 

"Some people planned to sleep at the embassy. How can Israeli citizens be abandoned on Independence Day? We see that the British are helping their citizens return home," Tamar Levy Ben-Dror told Ynet Monday evening.

 

"The atmosphere here is very unpleasant. People left children at home; there are pregnant women here. We are not celebrating; we are sad; we did not plan on celebrating Independence Day life this," she said.

 

Levy Ben-Dror said she and other Israelis were told that once the airport opens they would put be on the first flight to Israel, but after waiting for four hours at the airport they were told that all the flights were fully booked.

 

"We purchased a ticket for tomorrow for a thousand dollars, but many others can't afford to pay such an amount. We're victims of the most severe air travel crisis in history, so why screw us twice?" She said.

 

Caution zone 'with some contamination'

The European aviation control agency announced Monday that air traffic will resume entirely only on Thursday. The agency said that as of now only 30% of airports located in countries that were affected by the volcanic ash are operational.

 

In the next few days, several other airports will resume operations, while the aim is to return to normal aviation activity in Europe by Thursday.

 

European Union transport ministers agreed during a crisis videoconference to partly reopen northern Europe's skies, left empty by a plume of ash from a volcano hundreds of miles (kilometers) away on an isolated North Atlantic island.

 

"From tomorrow (Tuesday) morning on we should see progressively more planes start to fly," said EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas.

 

The agreement creates three zones – a "no fly" zone immediately over the ash cloud, a caution zone "with some contamination" where planes can fly subject to engine checks for damage and a third, open-skies zone.

 

The agreement was made after Britain, Germany, Holland, France and Belgium announced that they plan on gradually resuming activity in their fly zones.

 

Britain's National Air Traffic Service announced that air traffic will resume over Scotland, North Ireland and parts of north England. In Germany, Lufthansa and Air Berlin airlines received permit to retrieve thousands of citizens stranded outside of the country.

 

The Dutch transport minister announced that several commercial flights will be allowed to leave Schiphol airport Monday night.

 

The EU transport commissioner told BBC they hope to see a 10% to 15% increase in the number of flights departing on Monday, and an additional 10% by Tuesday.

 

Experts said the volcano - which erupted last Wednesday for the second time in a month - was now spewing more steam and less ash.

 

News agencies, Yoav Zitun contributed to the report 

 


פרסום ראשון: 04.20.10, 00:08
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