2010 IS COMING to an end with a new major air travel crisis. Hundreds of thousands of Christmas vacationers were stranded in several of Europe's main airports, paralysed by freak storms and heavy snow. All carriers operating to London, Paris, Frankfurt and other European airports from Egypt, including the national carrier, had to suspend operations for two days, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded. In April, air travel also suffered another crisis with natural causes. The eruption of the Icelandic volcano produced an ash cloud that covered northern and central Europe, spelling disaster for air transport businesses. For three days, from 17 to 19 April, when disruptions were greatest, lost revenues reached $400 million per day. European air travel was the worst affected by the volcanic explosion. Over six days after the initial eruption, lost revenues totalled more than $1.7 billion for airlines alone. At its worst, the crisis impacted 29 per cent of global aviation and affected 1.2 million passengers a day. In the Middle East, Egyptian pilgrims paid an exorbitant price during recent omra and other Muslim pilgrimage seasons. They were banned from flying to the holy city of Madinah directly, and were forced to travel to perform omra and pilgrimage rituals via Jeddah airport. This crisis began in early April when the Saudi authorities suspended scheduled flights operated by the national carrier, EgyptAir, between Cairo and the holy city of Madinah. Egypt in turn reacted by suspending Saudi airlines flights between the same two cities. The trigger for the action by the Saudi General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) was the refusal by its Egyptian counterpart to permit two low-cost Saudi airlines, Nas Air and Sama, to be awarded landing slots at Cairo International Airport. The routes between the Saudi Kingdom and Egypt are the busiest in the Arab world, with at least three million passengers transferred between the two countries a year, including hajj and omra pilgrim flights. The national carrier estimated daily losses of LE300,000, and a total loss over 20 days of LE4.5 millions. The route remains suspended to this day.
