The closure of airspace over Britain, Northern Europe and Scandinavia is having economic repercussions around the world. It has halted the transport of goods, stranded hundreds of thousands of passengers and dealt a severe economic blow to the airline industry.
Nearly 100,000 flights were canceled or delayed as volcanic ash forced the closure of European airspace. The International Air Transport Association says the crisis has cost airlines more than $1.7 billion and is devastating an already beleaguered industry.
冰岛火山灰云团迫使欧洲空域关闭，近10万架次航班被取消或者延误。国际航空运输协会说，这场危机给航空业造成超过17亿美元的损失，并使已经遭遇困境的航空业雪上加霜。
British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh says his company lost between $20 million and $30 million a day.
英国航空公司CEO 威利·沃尔什说，空域关闭期间英航每天的损失在2000万美元到3000万美元之间。
"My personal belief is that we could have safely continued operation for a period of time," said Walsh. "I think there were occasions when the decision to close airspace could have been justified."
沃尔什说：“我个人认为，我们本来能够继续运营一段时间。我认为，有关方面本应该对关闭空域的决定给出令人信服的理由。”
Walsh says canceling everything was unnecessary and that after the unprecedented delays and cancelations there will still be complications with air travel.
沃尔什表示，取消所有航班没有必要。沃尔什说：“一开始我就认为，将空域全部关闭是没有必要的。”沃尔什说，前所未有的航班延误和取消过后，空中旅行仍会存在混乱现象。
"I think to get back to normal levels of operation, from an industry point of view, I think will take weeks," he noted.
沃尔什说：“从整个行业的角度看，要恢复到正常运营，我认为需要几个星期。”
About 20 percent of airline revenues comes from air freight.
航空公司大约20%的收入来自航空运输。
Aramex logistics company managing director Jim Armour says the shutdown cost his company about a quarter of its daily revenue. The real problem is the uncertainty he says.
安世通国际快递公司(Aramex)总经理吉姆·阿默尔说，空域关闭让他所在公司每天收入的四分之一付诸东流。他说，真正的问题是不确定性。
"If someone said this was going to last for two weeks like a strike, you could make your plans, you could think about what you do with your people. I think the concern is the unknown really," said Armour.
阿默尔说：“假如有人说目前的情况跟罢工差不多，会持续两个星期，你还可以做出自己的计划，你会考虑你能跟公司的员工做些什么。我认为现在的问题是情况不明，的确是这样。”
Armour says the implications are not just economic.
阿默尔认为，空域关闭造成的影响不只是经济方面。
"[There are] terrible impacts. [For example,] you want to move blood plasma around and you need it badly, you want to move kidneys around… There [are] some disastrous consequences apart from the economic ones," he explained.
阿默尔说：“造成的影响非常严重。有人急需血浆，需要送血浆过去；有人需要肾脏，需要把肾脏运送过去。因此除了对经济的重创之外，还有其它一些毁灭性的后果。”
Flower growers in Kenya and Israel have had to destroy tons of roses and other flowers that are too wilted to have any economic value. Fruit and vegetable producers have also lost crops that could not travel to Europe. Jo Tanner, with Britain's Freight Transport association says there are lots of untold costs.
肯尼亚和以色列的花农不得不毁掉成吨的玫瑰和其它花卉，这些花卉都已凋谢，已经没有任何经济价值。果农和菜农收获的作物无法及时运到欧洲，也都坏掉。英国货运协会的乔·坦纳说：
"The impact economically is really difficult to judge at this stage, because we do not know how much has been able to be salvaged, how much extra cost there has been in terms of the contingency planning, so moving stuff to particular hubs by air and then picking up the rest of the journey by road, rail or sea," said Tanner.
“现阶段，从经济角度判断停飞的后果的确非常困难。我们不知道有多少损失可以挽回，从偶发事件规划角度，额外损失有多少，比如，把物品空运到特定的运输中心，然后通过陆路、铁路或是海上运输最后达到目的地，成本会增加多少。”
Airlines are asking European governments for financial and logistical compensation to help alleviate some of their losses. Many businesses will not have the same option and it may take some time before the full economic impact of the volcanic ash cloud is known.
航空公司要求欧洲各国政府给予资金和物流方面的补贴，帮助减轻一部分损失。不同企业所面临的情况也各不相同，因此要想知道这次火山灰给经济到底造成多少损失还需要一段时间。 |