Volcanic ash cloud strands thousands.

PROVIDENCE - Arcacian Airlines has cancelled all flights to Saint Vincent, Hobart, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth due to a cloud of volcanic ash from Chile which has affected flights all over Australia. SouthAir is still completely grounded, unable to fly and hundreds are stranded in Saint Vincent with the airport closed. Air Lycanth has also cancelled its southern flights. The ash cloud has also caused the indefinite postponement of the Southern Cross Summit as the Calaréann delegation is unable to fly.

Flights are expected to resume within 72 hours, with an ever increasing backlog of passengers to clear. It may take a week or more to clear every passenger. Arcacian Airlines says it is doing everything it can to assist with delayed passengers. The athlete's village in Saint Vincent, which is due to be demolished, has been opened up to those stranded on the island, as there is no other accommodation available.

In Providence, Arcacian Airlines has booked out the entire Ocean View Hotel for its stranded passengers to save them having to sleep in the terminal. The airlines says it feels compelled to look after its passengers, despite the enormous cost. The Arcacian Government says it will absorb the cost to prevent the airline from losing money.

Well that's a generous Government. Surely Arcacian Airlines would have learnt from the problems faced by OllingAir, Cattala Airways and all the other European airlines when we had the Eyjafjallajökull problems last year?

Not really, Arcacian Airlines is wholly publicly owned, meaning the government has a responsibility. There's nothing generous about it. It would be illegal not to.

As for Eyfjandjjhsuygakjhsagikjhadgjasadnambjork, that was on the same continent as the affected traffic. This one's on the other side of the world.

Update:

Flights to all Australian destinations have resumed. Flights to New Zealand are still suspended, as are flights to South America.

SouthAir will resume flights tomorrow.