Aviation Can't Catch a Break

Just when the economy started perking up and many of us were feeling a little bit of hope for the future of aviation, the volcano in Iceland (I can’t pronounce it and I sure can’t spell it) spewed ash across the skies of Europe, closing hundreds of airports, with dismaying impact on global aviation.  Thousands of flights were grounded to and from the United States.  The volcano’s impacts seem like part of a trend that began even before 9/11, but was certainly magnified by that horrendous event.   Aviation seems to be in the crosshairs of some diabolical force.  If something bad happens in the world, it’s just that much worse for aviation.  Skyrocketing fuel costs, for example, hurt a lot of industries, but perhaps none as badly as the aviation industry where fuel costs account for so much of the bottom-line. I hate to write a doom and gloom blog, but sometimes there’s no rosy spin.  I have read estimates that the aviation industry lost upwards of $100 million a day due to the impacts of the volcanic ash grounding flights around the world.  And no one in aviation is left unscathed by numbers like that.  While the focus tends to be on the major air carriers, the trickle-down effect (or, perhaps, torrent in this case) is felt just as acutely on the ground, by all the companies that support the airlines.  Yes, the industry will survive this event.  But I sure hope this marks the end of a long and costly trend.