© Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
A rarity: Saturday morning air traffic usually crisscrosses the skies above the Swiss Alps. Not a single streak in the sky 17 April!
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USEFUL LINKS FOR SWISS AND FRENCH TRAVELERS: Geneva Airport, Zurich Airport, Swiss airline, CFF Swiss trains, SNCF French trains, MeteoSwiss, Eurocontrol, and World Radio Geneva updates
Update 23:00, 17 April Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss civil aviation authorities announced Saturday late afternoon that Swiss air space will remain closed until at least 14:00 (2pm) Sunday, and the time is likely to be extended. The airline Swiss is canceling all flights on Saturday and Sunday. Travelers should not go to the airport.
Health impact: The WHO (World Health Organization) in Geneva says that as long as there are no concentrations of ash in the lower atmosphere the fine particles pose no significant health problems. Nevertheless, “people with chronic respiratory conditions like asthma, emphysema or bronchitis may be more susceptible to irritation if ash is in the lower atmosphere in high concentrations,” according to the WHO web site.
“‘Since the ash concentration may vary from country to country depending on the wind and air temperatures, our advice is to listen to local public health officials for the best guidance for individual situations,’ says Dr Maria Neira, head of public and environmental health. ‘If people are outside and notice irritation in their throat and lungs, a runny nose or itchy eyes, they should return indoors and limit their outdoor activities.’”
MeteoSwiss has not published any alerts and recommends that people who are interested follow the UK Met office’s map of the cloud, updated every few hours. Its web page, in French, carries images of the cloud early Saturday, and its team notes that the cloud moved lower during the night, to 3,600 metres above Payerne.
All three airports in Paris will remain closed until Monday morning. The SNCF says Saturday evening that rail traffic, affected by a strike, is nearly back to normal except in the southeast of the country.
Canadian holiday flights to the US have been chaotic thanks to the sudden implementation of stricter security measures after a Nigerian man was arrested for attempting to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit 25 December. No carry-on luggage is allowed on flights from Canada to the US, although the airlines are issuing lists of exceptions, including medications. Al Qaeda claims it was behind the failed Northwest flight attack.
Links to other sites: Air Canada, The Globe & Mail,
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The hottest change in the airline industry is the rapid move to BCBP, bar code boarding passes, whose use has nearly doubled in the past year. By the end of 2010 airports should have 100 percent BCBP coverage, meaning that airlines should be able to adopt this service if they want to, allowing anyone with any type of mobile phone to check in by showing the bar code from his or her phone: the end of the paper check-ins. The change is a particular boon for people who are traveling and who don’t have easy access to printers, possibly most airline passengers. Currently, 115 airlines use this and another 23 plan to.
Iata, at its annual media conference in Geneva Tuesday 15 December outlines some of the other improvements passengers will see in coming months, with the goal of moving people through airports faster.
No more worries about keeping an eye on your luggage at the back of the train car if you check it in
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Air Berlin has announced that its passengers can check their luggage in at more than 50 railway stations in Switzerland, get their boarding pass there and be assigned their seats as of 1 December.
Air Berlin is Germany’s second-largest airline.
Links to other sites: Air Berlin, CFF information on air/rail baggage checking system
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s largest travel group, Kuoni, calls its 2008 financial results “cheering”, with CHF4.9 billion in sales, an increase of 3.3 percent over 2007, and net profits up 12.1 percent to CHF152.1 million. Operating profits (EBIT) were CHF151.5m, up 8.6 percent.
