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On May 11^th the ash cloud closed air space over Tenerife, La Palma and La Gomera, forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights for up to 12 hours. Stranded passengers in Tenerife South airport who talked to this paper seemed to be taking the news stoically, knowing there was little to be done, no-one to rail at, no-one to blame. What was apparent too was that given the proximity of the last ash crisis, most people (and airlines) were well aware of their rights in the event of their flights being cancelled, so were content to wait for air space to open again.

The Tenerife authorities set their emergency in motion fairly quickly, but the latest dimension is a call by tourism chief José Manuel Bermúdez, to see what alternative travel arrangements can be offered in the event of future stoppages. He said he could foresee a possible drop in summer bookings if holidaymakers continue to be concerned about travelling, though he stressed that to date reservations are up on last year and there are also more air seats this summer.

Bermúdez stressed that uncertainty is “the worst news ever. To be able to plan flights, sales and hotel bed occupancy with uncertainty is very complex and unfortunately we’re working with uncertainty…If we see a repeat of this kind of thing in the coming months we will be facing a worrying situation because it could affect the efficiency of our promotional campaigns and our sales”, he warned.

The managing director of Turismo de Tenerife, Alberto Bernabé, said they are chartering ships with the Canary Islands Government to connect Tenerife with Seville and alleviate the flow of passengers. He said that this system has been gradually improving and so “we now are better equipped to deal with this type of very complicated situations which cause our airports to shut down.”

Volcanologist Juan Carlos Carracedo, who was in Iceland as part of a scientific expedition just a few weeks ago, has said that the current situation could last for up to two years.

Gallery: Take the long way home…

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