cigalechanta

TRAVELLERS are facing a nightmare weekend on the roads, trains and planes as school holidays coincide with a train strike and airport closures.

Plane delays and cancellations

Twenty-five French airports are closed today until at least 14.00 because of the cloud of volcanic ash from an eruption in Iceland that has paralysed air travel across much of northern Europe. The full list is at the bottom of this article.

Flights to London will be disrupted until at least 20.00 French time as the airspace remains closed. Ireland and Scotland flights could recommence from about 14.00.

Many other European destinations, including Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Amsterdam and Brussels are also affected.

Air security body Eurocontrol warns the knock-on effect from the cancellations will last at least another two days, as planes and crew are in the wrong places and there is a backlog of passengers to clear.

French civil aviation body DGAC says passengers must check with their airline before heading to the airport. Please do not call The Connexion offices, as we are unable to provide any more information.

Air France can be reached on 3654, or you can send a text message containing your flight number to 63654. Cancellation details are also online at www.airfrance.fr

Easyjet is warning of high call volumes to its help centre - but is putting all flight running information online here.

Train delays

The SNCF strike is now in its 10th day and, despite some negotiations at a regional level, shows no sign of ending yet.

Most TGVs are running as normal today but many of them are full because of the backlog. No tickets are on sale between Paris and the south-east of France (via Marseille) for travel this weekend.

The official estimates on the rest of network are 80% of TER trains running today, 86% of Intercités and 63% of Corail and Téoz services.

Live train info for major stations
Paris suburban routes
TER local services in your area

Road delays

This weekend marks the end of the Easter holidays for Zone B (the south-east, centre and far north of France). It is also the start of the holidays for Zone C - Paris, the Ile-de-France and the Aquitaine.

Traffic monitor Bison Futé has issued an "orange" alert for the national road network for both today and Saturday, meaning up to 350km of congestion is expected on the roads.

Check the roads where you are travelling using this interactive map.

The full list of closed airports at 8.30 (source DGAC)

Charles de Gaulle
Orly
Le Bourget
Calais
Merville
Le Touquet
Dieppe
Cherbourg
Amiens
Lille
Valenciennes
Brest
Lannion
Deauville
Morlaix
Quimper
Rennes
Caen
Strasbourg
Vatry
Reims
Metz
Beauvais
Toussus-le-Noble
Pontoise

logos999

The list for Germany is far shorter . All airports are closed.

cigalechanta

Wow, they say now it may be quite awhile before flights can leave, that means many days,because the smallest particle hitting a plane can be disastrous

scatcat

We got out of France just in time. I departed yesterday at 10:35 from Nice and my son departed yesterday from CDG. We did get caught in the French train strike. We were traveling from Italy to Nice. We got delayed by a little less than 2 hours.

mpprh

You can see who is flying where across Europe here : http://www.radarvirtuel.com

It also shows the latest info on the position of the lava cloud.

As of 20.00 GMT, the only flight in the air over the British Isles (and currently flying over Derry N.I.) is :

Flight Number : TOM128
Company : Thomsonfly
ICAO Hex Code : 400B4B
Reg Code : G-OOBK
Model : Boeing - B767-324 (ER)
Departure : MAN - Manchester, Ringway - United Kingdom
Arrival : BGI - Bridgetown, Grantley Adams International - Barbados
Last Message : 19:57:52 UTC
Latitude : 55.185
Longitude : -7.2285
Altitude : 9753 m - 31998 ft
Ground Speed : 799 km/h - 496 mph - 431 knots
Squawk : 3372
Heading : 247º
More information at :
Airliners.net - LibHomeRadar.org

mpprh

There are no other flights North of a line between Nantes and Zurich

Peter

cigalechanta

topping for travel to France

jmgocan

ttt

logos999

I was promised an exceptionally nice and colorful sunset today. Didn't happen, maybe tomorrow? Shut everything down and slow down the hectic life for a week. That would be heaven.

cigalechanta

Here's a vid on the rail strike

http://paris-ile-de-france-centre.fr...60420101157_F3

Mahya2

AP news 5:45 PM April 16

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100416/...celand_volcano

Situation getting worse

rhkkmk

how will you get french bread and cheese in cambridge with the airports closed?? you may have to eat cake

ileen

Any info. on when Charles de Gaulle will start operating.

cigalechanta

I can get French Cheese and Poilaine's bread
(flown in daily) at fromaggio's, Bob!

mpprh

Looking at the current flights and extent of the dust cloud here : http://www.radarvirtuel.com , there is virtually nothing flying in French airspace at 08.00 UTC.

Interestingly there are two flights approaching the pyrenees from Guadeloupe and Martinique designated as bound for Orly. Presumably they will divert to somewhere further South.

Peter

SuzChicago

In this morning's WSJ, it said that ORY and CDG are closed until at least Monday morning.

Makes me wonder how people with trips to France are handling the whole thing. When we go, we are renting an apartment in Paris for a week and a gite in Provence for a week. If we had to delay flights, we would be out of luck on rescheduling these. Makes these rentals less attractive as it is far more likely that hotel dates could be changed. What are impacted travelers doing?

DanM

Suppose to leave for Paris on Thursday. My fingers are crossed, but we have begun making plans to change our vacation location.

KevDon

I feel stupid for worrying but I leave May 10 and with all this talk about "it could go for days, weeks or months" and no one is mentioning exactly WHAT the plan would be if this could actually erupt that long because the consequences of having NO air traffic for a full week, let alone a month, would be devastating! Both personally and economically lol

Has anyone heard any discussion of what would happen if this continued for that long? ? ?

AnnMarie_C

We are scheduled to depart Philadelphia for Paris on Tuesday. I expect our flight to be cancelled and am working a destination change.

KevDon, I haven't read yet anything on long term effects other than transporting fresh food may be an issue at some point.

yellowz

we are scheduled to leave for Paris on Saturday and our hopes that this trip may still happen are quickly starting to fade. We also booked an apartment instead of a hotel for this trip and are deeply regretting this now. If these rental agencies want to ensure their future existence they really need to develop some flexibility here, because this is clearly an option we will never go with again. Why risk losing thousands of euros on an apartment you may never be able to use due to an act of God, while the most you would lose with a hotel reservation is one night?