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The eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull on Thursday resulted in a Europe wide ban on air travel that lasted almost a week. It was only on the evening of Tuesday this week that the ban was fully lifted. It has been estimated that 150,000 Britons were stranded overseas waiting to come home to the UK.
The flight ban has caused problems for a number of businesses. It is estimated that airlines have lost $200 million a day. Overseas workers due to arrive in the UK and other European Countries have had to delay their trips. If you are someone emigrating from one Country to another delay can be particularly inconvenient both for yourself the immigrant and the employer.
As air travel in Europe returns to normal employers, visitors and immigrants are able to travel with reasonable confidence that they will be able to fly to their destination without further problems. Whether or not this continues depends on the magnitude of future Volcano eruptions in Iceland and on weather conditions. Global immigration needs reliable air travel to facilitate travel from one Country to another. One of the main factors that has led to tremendous increases in levels of immigration around the World since the end of the Second World War has been air travel.
Fortunately the flight ban has not lasted as long as some commentators had feared. A number of businesses that rely on migrant workers and depend on custom from international travellers have suffered. Overall, businesses should now recover quickly.
