Archive for the ‘The Volcano’ Category

Whitney Houston was determined to fulfill her engagement at Dublin’s O2 Arena despite the fact that her flight was grounded because of the volcanic ash cloud.

Appearing at the O2 on Saturday 17th, Sunday 18th and Tuesday 20th  of April Whitney drove from Birmingham to Holyhead and got on the ferry for Dublin.

This tour has been dogged with problems. She was forced to cancel her first three engagements because of health concerns which landed her in a Paris hospital.

The volcano in Iceland continues to erupt and the cloud of volcanic dust continues to hang over Europe.

80% of passenger flights have been cancelled and in Ireland Aer Lingus has cancelled all flights until tomorrow and Ryanair says that it is unlikely that there will be any flights until Wednesday at least.

Both Aer Lingus and Ryanair are thought to have lost millions so far although no definite figures are available. There is a fear that some small airlines throughout Europe who are already struggling may find it difficult to survive these losses.

The hospitality industry in Ireland is reporting a noticeable drop in visitors in the past few days.

The old adage: “It’s an ill wind that doesn’t blow good to somebody” was demonstrated this week by the catastrophic volcano eruption in Iceland.

Who would have thought that such a disastrous event which spewed volcanic material into the atmosphere causing flight disruption all over northern Europe effectively closing airports with losses of millions of euros to business and individual travellers could be good for anybody?

In Ireland and the UK all airports are virtually shut down and Aer Lingus and Ryanair have grounded all their planes until tomorrow (Monday) at least.

However some people just have to get to their destination and are finding alternatives. Even celebrities have to take the Ferry. In order to fulfil her concert engagement in Dublin Whitney Houston got on board the boat.

Over Thursday and Friday Stena Line reported that 6,000 extra foot passengers and 2,000 extra cars were carried across the Irish Sea, which is a 700 per cent rise in business.

Other ferry companies in Ireland and throughout Europe are reporting similar increases in traffic.