British Govt appoint 'ash' supremo

A volcanic ash “supremo” was appointed today by the British Government.

The Government’s Chief Scientist Professor Sir John Beddington will chair a peer review group to collect and consider all sources of data on ash concentrations.

Announcing the appointment, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said Sir John’s team would establish how best to update the “model” used by the Met Office to predict ash cloud movements.

There was criticism in some quarters, notably from Irish budget carrier Ryanair, about the authenticity of the model during last week’s Icelandic ash cloud crisis.

Today, Mr Hammond said airlines had to work with the Government, regulators, air traffic controllers and the Met Office constantly to improve the accuracy of the model.

Addressing a European Civil Aviation Conference meeting in London, Mr Hammond said that only by improving the input data for the model could more-accurate outputs be expected and better-informed decisions made.

Mr Hammond said that the newly-formed volcanic ash advisory group would also work on improving the model.

He added that the UK hoped to quickly reach a broad international agreement on this revised approach to ash cloud problems.