Branson slams flight ban 'overreaction'

Virgin Atlantic boss Richard Branson today branded the blanket ban on flights because of the volcanic ash as an “overreaction”, saying there had been “no danger at all” to flying.

He blamed the Government for grounding the planes and called for compensation for the airlines.

Sir Richard said the flight restrictions had cost his airline about £50m over the six days.

Speaking at the ExCeL Centre in central London ahead of tomorrow’s Virgin London Marathon, he said: “On this occasion this was very much a Government decision to ground the planes and we would suggest that the Government should compensate the industry.

“Behind the scenes our engineers and all the experts were telling us that there was no danger at all to flying and that the danger would have been if we had flown close to Iceland through the volcano.

“There were plenty of corridors through which the airlines could have flown through which would have been quite safe, so I think the Government has accepted that there was overreaction.

“A blanket ban of the whole of Europe was not the right decision.”

He said planes could have flown below the cloud and in any case the engines were designed to put up with sandstorms and would have been able to withstand the ash.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has defended the flight restrictions, saying the Civil Aviation Authority had needed to ensure conditions were safe.

He said the European Commission was looking at possible financial compensation and proposals were expected next week.

The British Air Transport Association (BATA) has called on the Government to “commit to standing behind the industry financially”.

And the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has estimated the crisis cost airlines more than $1.7bn in lost revenue.

Both Virgin Atlantic and British Airways today called for volunteers to give up their seats to allow stranded passengers to return home.

Sir Richard only arrived in the UK himself at 9am today after chartering a plane from Los Angeles.

He said it would not have been right to take up a space on one of his own planes while passengers were still stranded.

Instead he used the extra space on his flight to help people, including marathon runners, back to the UK.

He said: “It’s been horrendous actually. Both for the airline and for Virgin Holidays and for thousands and thousands of our travellers.”

He said the airline was still “battling” to get some people home and the worst-hit routes included Orlando, Florida, and the Caribbean.

And although some passengers were delighted to have an extra holiday at the company’s expense and were writing thank you letters, others were desperate to get back to work.

Sir Richard said the airline was “nearly on top of the problem, maybe another week or so to go”.

British Airways was offering volunteers with longhaul bookings up to May 2 a full refund or rebooking if they gave up their seats.

In a YouTube message posted last night BA boss Willie Walsh said: “It’s a very difficult situation and we’ve had to deal with a lot of complexity, aircraft stuck in different parts of the world, crew stuck in different parts of the world.

“I would please ask our customers to bear with us. I know how stressful it must be for you to be stuck abroad. I know how important it is for you to get home and I want to assure you that we are doing everything we possibly can to do so.”

The airline said it was aiming to operate a full service today out of Heathrow, Gatwick and London City.

Extra flights were also planned from New York, Newark, Hong Kong, the Maldives, Delhi, Barbados, Johannesburg and Bangkok.

A spokeswoman said repatriation remained “an enormous challenge” and urged customers to register on the BA website to help speed the booking process.

The spokeswoman said the fleet was now operating at “maximum capacity” but the “unprecedented closure” had forced 4,000 flight cancellations and created “very high levels of excess demand” from some longhaul destinations.

She also denied claims BA was profiteering by putting up the price of seats from some locations, saying this was “absolute nonsense”.

She said: “Because other airlines and travel agents can access our computer reservations systems, we placed any remaining seats available on each flight in the highest fare classes in an effort to deter other airlines from reserving these seats for their customers.

“This was the only technical solution we had available to us to help rebook as many of our own customers as we possibly could onto each flight.

“Our stranded customers are not being asked to pay anything extra, when we rebook them.”

The Government’s handling of the crisis has come under close scrutiny since British airspace was reopened on Tuesday night.

Mr Walsh has said the blanket ban was not necessary.

But British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has defended the time taken to reopen UK airspace, stressing that passengers had to be “safe and secure”