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| Tonny Parnell |
Island Island 17-07-2010
Ash led to big drop in air traffic
Ash led to big drop in air traffic to Europe
Number of passengers heading overseas fell 19 percent in April
NEW YORK — The number of people traveling to Europe from the United States fell 19 percent in April after a volcanic ash cloud forced thousands of flights to be canceled and cost airlines billions in lost revenue.
The U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries blamed the drop in air passengers to Europe on repeated shutdowns of air traffic when an erupting volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland spewed ash.
U.S. air travel to Europe was down 7 percent for the year to April, the office said in a statement.
But the number of passengers traveling to the Middle East from the United States soared 29 percent, while passengers to Africa were up 25 percent, Asia was up eight percent, Oceania jumped 10 percent, Canada grew 5 percent and the Caribbean 2 percent.
Air travel to South America fell 4 percent and the number for Central America dropped 13 percent.
A total of 2.9 million people traveled on flights leaving the United States in April, down 5 percent from last year.
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