Doha, April 20: The head of Qatar Airways complained Monday that the carrier was losing 5.5 million dollars a day due to flight bans imposed in Europe because of volcanic ash clouds.
Chief executive Akbar al-Baker also told Al-Jazeera English news channel that the government-owned airline was planning to test fly an Airbus 330 jet to London’s Heathrow airport on Tuesday.
“We are losing five and half million dollars a day,” over the bans which began on Thursday last week, Baker said.
“Qatar Airways is dispatching an Airbus A330 to London tomorrow morning with crew and engineers, and we will land in Heathrow, and we will evaluate what effects ash has on our engines,” he said.
Qatar Airways has also been paying 250-300 dollars per day to accommodate each of its passengers stranded in Doha, which the airline uses as a transit hub between Europe, south Asia and Australia.
Baker did not give a figure on the number of passengers stuck in the Qatari capital, but an aviation official who requested anonymity said there were several hundred.
Air traffic across Europe has been crippled since Thursday when a vast cloud of ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland started spreading southwards and eastwards.
Qatar Airways has one of the youngest fleets in the world, operating 81 aircraft.
—Agencies