The European Regulatory Response to the Volcanic Ash Crisis between Fragmentation and Integration
More than twenty years after the EU eliminated its internal land borders, the Union still lacks an integrated airspace. This seems to be the most immediate regulatory lesson of the recent volcanic ash crisis. Yet more research is needed before establishing its net effects. In this brief report, I wi...
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s1867299x00000180 2023-05-15T16:09:38+02:00 The European Regulatory Response to the Volcanic Ash Crisis between Fragmentation and Integration Alemanno, Alberto 2010 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1867299x00000180 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1867299X00000180 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms European Journal of Risk Regulation volume 1, issue 2, page 101-106 ISSN 1867-299X 2190-8249 Safety Research Law journal-article 2010 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s1867299x00000180 2023-02-24T07:14:28Z More than twenty years after the EU eliminated its internal land borders, the Union still lacks an integrated airspace. This seems to be the most immediate regulatory lesson of the recent volcanic ash crisis. Yet more research is needed before establishing its net effects. In this brief report, I will provide a first-hand analysis of the regulatory answer developed across Europe in the aftermath of the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull. While reconstructing the unfolding of the events and the procedures followed by the regulators, I will attempt to address some of the questions that I have repeatedly asked myself when stranded in Washington DC between 16 and 25 April 2010. Who did the assessment of the hazard posed by volcanic ash to jetliners? Who was competent to take risk management decisions, such as the controversial flight bans? Is it true that the safe level of volcanic ash was zero? How to explain the shift to a new safety threshold (of 2,000 mg/m3) only five days after the event? Did regulators overact? To what extent did they manage the perceived risk rather than the actual one? At a time when the impact of the volcanic ash cloud crisis is being closely scrutinised by both public authorities and the affected industries, it seems particularly timely to establish what happened during the worst aviation crisis in European history. This report was written one week after the event and relied on a limited number of sources available by 30 April 2010. Article in Journal/Newspaper Eyjafjallajökull Cambridge University Press (via Crossref) European Journal of Risk Regulation 1 2 101 106 |
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Cambridge University Press (via Crossref) |
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Safety Research Law |
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Safety Research Law Alemanno, Alberto The European Regulatory Response to the Volcanic Ash Crisis between Fragmentation and Integration |
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Safety Research Law |
description |
More than twenty years after the EU eliminated its internal land borders, the Union still lacks an integrated airspace. This seems to be the most immediate regulatory lesson of the recent volcanic ash crisis. Yet more research is needed before establishing its net effects. In this brief report, I will provide a first-hand analysis of the regulatory answer developed across Europe in the aftermath of the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull. While reconstructing the unfolding of the events and the procedures followed by the regulators, I will attempt to address some of the questions that I have repeatedly asked myself when stranded in Washington DC between 16 and 25 April 2010. Who did the assessment of the hazard posed by volcanic ash to jetliners? Who was competent to take risk management decisions, such as the controversial flight bans? Is it true that the safe level of volcanic ash was zero? How to explain the shift to a new safety threshold (of 2,000 mg/m3) only five days after the event? Did regulators overact? To what extent did they manage the perceived risk rather than the actual one? At a time when the impact of the volcanic ash cloud crisis is being closely scrutinised by both public authorities and the affected industries, it seems particularly timely to establish what happened during the worst aviation crisis in European history. This report was written one week after the event and relied on a limited number of sources available by 30 April 2010. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Alemanno, Alberto |
author_facet |
Alemanno, Alberto |
author_sort |
Alemanno, Alberto |
title |
The European Regulatory Response to the Volcanic Ash Crisis between Fragmentation and Integration |
title_short |
The European Regulatory Response to the Volcanic Ash Crisis between Fragmentation and Integration |
title_full |
The European Regulatory Response to the Volcanic Ash Crisis between Fragmentation and Integration |
title_fullStr |
The European Regulatory Response to the Volcanic Ash Crisis between Fragmentation and Integration |
title_full_unstemmed |
The European Regulatory Response to the Volcanic Ash Crisis between Fragmentation and Integration |
title_sort |
european regulatory response to the volcanic ash crisis between fragmentation and integration |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1867299x00000180 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1867299X00000180 |
genre |
Eyjafjallajökull |
genre_facet |
Eyjafjallajökull |
op_source |
European Journal of Risk Regulation volume 1, issue 2, page 101-106 ISSN 1867-299X 2190-8249 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s1867299x00000180 |
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European Journal of Risk Regulation |
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1 |
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2 |
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101 |
op_container_end_page |
106 |
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1766405488617979904 |