Effects of the April 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption
The state funeral of President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria Kaczyńska on 18 April 2010 was affected as some national leaders were unable to attend, including Barack Obama, Stephen Harper, Angela Merkel, and Nicolas Sarkozy.
As waylaid travellers scrambled for other modes of transport, ferry and railway companies enjoyed an unexpected bonanza, while some car-hire firms were reportedly hiking charges.
[15] Thousands of Kenyan farm workers were temporarily laid off as harvesting of flowers and vegetables was stopped by 19 April due to the grounding of flights.
Due to the disruptions in travel, several national leaders cancelled their plans to attend, including Barack Obama, Stephen Harper, Angela Merkel, and Nicolas Sarkozy.
[32] The Forecasting Economic Support Group of ICAO's Committee on Aviation Environment Protection postponed a planned summit in Bern as North American and Scandinavian members would be unable to attend.
One of the early widely reported incidents was the trouble of actor/comedian John Cleese, who spent 30,000 Norwegian kroner (roughly £3,300) on a taxi journey from Oslo to Brussels after his flight from Norway was cancelled.
[39] Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Demi Moore and American band The Drums were unable to make their scheduled appearance on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 23 April due to the flight disruption,[40] The Iron Man 2 World Premiere in the UK in relation to Downey Jr. and Paltrow's appearance was also moved to LA from London.
[41] Some British musical acts scheduled to perform at the 2010 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California, including Bad Lieutenant, Gary Numan, Delphic, Frightened Rabbit, Talvin Singh and The Cribs and the American group Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (who were touring in Europe) encountered flight cancellations, jeopardizing their scheduled slots, all of them eventually cancelling their performances.
[36][42][43][44][45] Carnegie Hall cancelled a concert of the works of Louis Andriessen[36] because pianist Gerard Bouwhuis was stranded in Amsterdam and the Bang on a Can All-Stars were unable to leave Frankfurt.
Originally, Lennox was to have appeared at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, near Los Angeles, to perform "Universal Child" as part of the charity fundraiser.
The 2013 French comedy film Eyjafjallajökull is a road movie starting when a divorced couple is forced to drive across Europe due to the cancellation of their flight.
The UEFA Champions League semi-final teams FC Barcelona and Olympique Lyonnais travelled by coach to their matches with Inter Milan and Bayern Munich respectively[46] and in the Europa League both English travelling teams, Liverpool[55] and Fulham[46] had to make long journeys by coach, train and Eurostar to reach their respective destinations in Madrid and Hamburg.
His private plane was due to land in Keflavik, Iceland, but with runways shut down was forced to abort at the last minute, costing his historic speed flight four to five hours.
The massive reduction of air travel occurring over European skies caused by the ash cloud, saved an estimated 1.3 to 2.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere by 19 April 2010.
"[62] Jenny Tonge, president of HACAN Clearskies, life peer and former Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park in London said "Dare we hope that it will finally lay the Third Runway at Heathrow to rest and concentrate government minds on more environmentally friendly and sustainable forms of transport?
