The range of the dust cloud continues to expand across Europe: Picture courtesy of The Met Office

The range of the dust cloud continues to expand across Europe: Picture courtesy of The Met Office

To help ease the worry and concern to Sixt’s customers the car hire and vehicle rental company is currently waiving cancellation fees on pre-paid bookings at all of their airport branches currently suffering from large delays due to the large volcanic ash cloud looming over the UK and extensive regions of Europe. Since the news broke yesterday that the UK’s airports were closing their doors to inbound and outbound flights, travellers throughout the world have had to hastily rearrange flights and holiday details.


With close to 17,000 flights grounded because of the safety concerns raised by the volcanic dust in the air, a large number of Sixt’s customers are having to face further delays as more airports throughout Europe cancel flights and close the airspace around them. Today flights from Germany’s airports were suspended until the air clears above the country.

The amount of damage that volcanic dust can cause to planes is an extremely serious threat that can lead to the engines stopping during flight, the windows effectively being sandblasted and the dust can even enter the plane leading to respiratory problems for passengers. During one flight in 1982 a British Airways flight lost power to all engines after flying near to a volcanic dust cloud, the Boeing 747 dropped 24,000 ft before the flight crew managed to restore power to the engines and prevent a disaster.

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