Great Western Coffee Shop

Statement on Icelandic volcanic eruption: Thurs April 15, 09:30
From midday today until at least 6pm, there will be no flights permitted in UK controlled airspace other than emergency situations. This has been applied in accordance with international civil aviation policy. We continue to monitor the situation with the Met Office and work closely with airline customers and adjoining countries.

... who has just booked a Eurostar-FGW journey to replace his flight.    ....

The eruption ejected the plume, which is made up of fine rock particles, up to 11km into the atmosphere.
"This ash cloud is now drifting with the high altitude winds," said Dr David Rothery, a volcano researcher from the UK's Open University. "The main mass is over Scandinavia, but it is also over the north of Great Britain and is likely to spread south over the whole island by the end of [Thursday]."
The plume is so high that it will neither be visible nor pose a threat to the health of humans on the ground, although Dr Rothery added that we may have a "spectacularly red sunset" on Thursday evening.

Looking on the bright side...

1) Trains and the roads will be busy I am sure but it is an opportunity for the railway to demonstrate what it can do to potential new customers. I have a colleague in Brussels at the moment who has just booked a Eurostar-FGW journey to replace his flight.   

2) The folks who live under the Heathrow flightpath will sleep well tonight.

3) We might get some spectacular sunsets. 

Icelandic volcanic ash disruption prompts rush to rail

Travel firms have seen bookings surge as people seek different travel arrangements after planes were grounded in the UK because of volcanic ash.
Eurostar said some of Thursday's services between the UK and mainland Europe were almost full after "thousands" of extra reservations.
And Virgin Trains said that it was carrying an extra 2,000 passengers on its route between Glasgow and London.
Ferry companies also reported an increase in enquiries.
A spokesman for Brittany Ferries said people were hastily re-arranging travel plans.
"We expect Spain routes to be particularly busy, given that it is the biggest tourist destination for Britons," he added.
Passengers also appeared to be altering travel arrangements for Friday and the weekend - anticipating further disruption.
Eurostar said mainly of its Friday trains, which were already busy due to demand for Spring breaks, were filling up.
And a spokesman for P&O ferries said passengers were "not going to risk any prolonged closure of airports" so were booking ahead.
The grounding of aircraft would cause some short term impact on productivity in the UK as some people were unable to get to work according to the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR).
However the ability for people to work form home, and the tendency to make up lost time later meant it would probably have only a limited impact.
All flights in and out of the UK have been suspended as ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland moves south.
Safety body Eurocontrol said up to 4,000 flights across northern Europe had so far been affected by the cloud.
The Air Traffic Control Service (Nats) said no flights would be allowed in or out of UK airspace until 1800BST amid fears of engine damage.

Is volcanic ash less of a problem in the tunnel than the wrong sort of snow  ;D

Seriously - any issues at ground level with ground based vehicle engines?

All flights in and out of the UK and several other European countries have been suspended as ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland moves south.
Up to 4,000 flights are being cancelled with airspace closed in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark among others.
The UK's air traffic control service (Nats) said no flights would be allowed in or out of UK airspace until 0700 BST on Friday amid fears of engine damage.
The airspace restriction was the worst in living memory, a spokesman said.
Nats suggested that the restrictions were unlikely to be lifted after 0700, saying saying it was "very unlikely that the situation over England will improve in the foreseeable future".

Coincidence or a little bit of forward planning by XC?...the 0634 BRI-0837 PLY service this morning, which invariably passes south of Exeter on my way to work, was a double Voyager.

Most restrictions on UK airspace will stay in place until 1300 BST on Friday because of ash from a volcano in Iceland, air traffic controllers say.
But some flights may be allowed after 0100 BST from Northern Ireland and several airports in Scotland.
The volcanic eruption has caused flight cancellations across Europe amid fears the ash could cause engine failures.
Air traffic control service (Nats) said its next review would be at 0230 BST but the situation was "not improving".

The World Service had an interview with Eric Moody, captain of a BA 747 that flew through a cloud of volcanic ash in Indonesia in 1982, temporarily shutting down all four engines (and in fact damaging them so badly that once the plane landed safely they were scrapped). Coincidentally, we ended up discussing exactly the same incident a few days ago here (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=6560.15).

It's getting worse! From the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8623806.stm).

And the Grauniad (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/apr/15/iceland-volcano-ash-flights-grounded) is threatening an eruption that could last days or even weeks.

I may be getting a little paranoid here, but I'm starting to worry that even if BA cabin crew don't scupper my trip in 5 May, this bleedin' volcano may yet b*gg*r things up...

At present the ash cloud is confined to the upper atmosphere and cant therefore affect trains or other engines at ground level.
If however the ash descends to ground level, then engines should be protected by the air filters with which virtualy all engines are equiped.
Such filters might however need more frequent replacement if substantial ash is present at low level, Hope that TOCs keep good stocks of spares.

But seriously, first the Cod Wars, then the Icelandic banks collapse with lots of British money and now they've shut down our airspace... Coincidence? ;)

Iceland volcano: Airlines face 'logistical nightmare'

The fallout from the Icelandic volcano will be felt a long time after the ash has settled.
For while the majority of flights may be back in the air by the beginning of next week, it will be many more days before the airlines have got their schedules back on track.
And that means more delayed flights for thousands of passengers, many of whom may be under the false impression that, once the ash clears, planes will be free to fly as normal.
"Airlines face a logistical nightmare," explains Barry Turner-Woods, contributing editor of Airlines World.
Not only will there be a backlog of flights to clear, but planes are stranded across the world in destinations thousands of miles from where they need to be.
Flight schedules are intricate and complex, and the consequences of missing just one flight, let alone hundreds, can be far reaching.
For example, as John Strickland, director of the aviation consultancy JLS Consulting, explains, an Air New Zealand flight from Hong Kong to London was forced to land in Frankfurt.
As a result, it had to cancel the flight back to Hong Kong. Another of the carrier's aircraft got into London from Los Angeles before the airspace closure - but meaning it had to cancel a London to LA flight because that plane is stuck at Heathrow Airport.
The domino effect only loses momentum once the airlines can start flying again.
"This is a really big headache, especially for long-haul operators," says Mr Strickland. "Airlines rely on a carefully-planned sequence of flights. Once the sequence is broken, it is very hard to catch up, particularly on complex routes such as the UK to Asia or Australia."
And as more airports fall under the volcanic cloud, the problem will only get worse, particularly when those airports are international hubs such as Paris and Frankfurt, both of which were closed on Friday.
The logistics involved in getting back on track are hard to grasp - it's not simply a question of waiting for the ash to clear and sending the planes on their way. In some cases, airlines won't be able to stick with the same crew," explains Mr Strickland. "Crew are entitled to rest periods and they may not be available for the next flight. It may actually be quicker to recover the plane with a different crew."
Airlines also have to bear in mind the time zones in which the crew are operating. Even if they are free, there are strict safety regulations to guard against jet lag. Crew's body clocks are intricately connected to flight schedules.
Not only, then, does the airline have to foot the bill for putting up crew in hotels while they wait, but they may have to pay for a whole new crew to fly out to pick up a stranded plane.
Mr Strickland estimates that it could take some airlines a full week after the ash clears before they can resume a normal service on complex long-haul flights.
Mr Turner-Woods believes it will take them four to five days. "It really depends on capacity - if the flights are full or not," he says. An airline with plenty of free seats will be able to clear the backlog quicker.
One thing is for sure, he argues: "You won't find any airlines hiring extra aircraft to cover the shortfall."
This is for the very simple reason that they cannot afford to.
"The fixed costs in the airline business are enormous, and they still need to be met," says Tim Coombs, managing director of Aviation Economics.
Large airlines such as British Airways or Lufthansa are losing about ^10m a day while their planes are grounded, according to Douglas McNeill, a transport analyst at Charles Stanley Securities.
And most major airlines can ill-afford to charter additional planes at a time when they are struggling to make money.
Short-haul operators, however, should be less badly affected.
"It will be relatively easy for short-haul, low-cost operators to get their schedules back on track," says Mr Coombs.
And there is no way of knowing which passengers will be hit as airlines struggle with the logistics of returning to business as normal.
"Some people will be lucky, others will not," says Mr Turner-Woods.
Then there is the problem of actually getting the planes off the ground once the ash clears.
Any airline will usually have the majority of its planes in the air, not all of them sitting on the ground. At airports that have been closed completely, this means there are huge numbers of planes that are parked up.
"Airlines don't usually have this much capacity on the ground," explains Mr Strickland.
"The choreography involved [in getting them all up in the air] is a real problem."
This will be a minor issue compared with re-scheduling entire flight programmes, but is just one of many logistical conundrums facing global airlines.
Unfortunately for airlines and passengers alike, the knock-on effects of the Icelandic volcanic eruption will be felt long after planes take to the skies once more.

Actuarially, just what are the chances of a volcanic eruption benefiting you in that way?

C.  ;D ;D ;D

Saturday April 17: Latest update at 0415 (UK Time)

Following the latest information from the MET Office, NATS advises that restrictions across UK controlled airspace have been extended until at least 1900 (UK Time) today Saturday 17 April and that restrictions to Scottish and Manchester airspace have been re-applied until the same time.

Current forecasts show that the situation is worsening throughout Saturday. We are continuing to look for windows of opportunity to handle individual flights in UK controlled airspace.

The next update will be at approximately 0900 (UK time) as planned.

And the Grauniad (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/apr/15/iceland-volcano-ash-flights-grounded) is threatening an eruption that could last days or even weeks.

In Iceland, the volcano continued to erupt, but volcanologists said was it less explosive than at the beginning of the eruption on Wednesday, which blasted glassy abrasive ash, destructive to jet engines, eight miles into the sky. The plume was now rising to a height of just three miles, and the volcanologists said this would deposit ash only in Iceland and in the surrounding waters. It was not high enough to travel thousands of miles across Britain and the rest of Europe.

Matthew Roberts, a glaciologist at the Iceland Meteorological Office, said they had not ruled out further big blasts but added: "There is currently no new material being added to the ash stream affecting aviation in Europe."
He also played down fears that Katla, a neighbouring larger volcano in Iceland, to the east of Eyjafjallajokull, could be stirred into life.

I was interested to see what kind of additional service Eurostar might be offering as a result of the flight disruption.  Having visited the website all I could find was a message saying they were doing all they could to run extra trains and accommodate extra passengers.  Not exactly very useful information, and a bit more trawling resulted in me finding that Christian Wolmer had already noticed:

http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/2010/04/railway-cannot-no-longer-respond-to-crisis/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feed%2Fchristianwolmar+%28Christian+Wolmar%29 (http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/2010/04/railway-cannot-no-longer-respond-to-crisis/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feed%2Fchristianwolmar+%28Christian+Wolmar%29)

Looks like a great opportunity to restore their damaged reputation has been squandered!

Well done Eurostar.. :)

....(there were quite a lot of us in the same boat)....

Thought you said you were on a train!  ;) :D ;D

Fair play.  Good to hear!  :)

Plans were being made today for a Fishguard HST working, probably off now though???

It would seem Eurostar have been forgiven by the traveling public for the snow fiasco of only a few weeks ago

Got an email from fgw this evening "it's A SHame" saying if you have/had air south west tickets from newquay/Plymouth to London then you are entitled to get a free FC ticket valid till July!!

FGW out for some publicity it seems.

I wont re-iterate the minutia of various conversations but there was no way we could keep our space closed when france, germany and holland were opening theirs tomorrow.

H&S gone mad - there WAS A problem but it was made a whole lot worse by blame culture

If a pilot and crew are willing to take a plane up - I'll get on it.  They don't normally volunteer for suicide missions

Additional Trains Tonight/Tomorrow Morning however you wish to define it :P

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=4257

06:07 Frome to London Paddington due 08:09

This train will be started from Westbury.It will no longer call at: Frome. This is due to an additional service being run earlier.

Volcano ash: BA defends policy on stranded passengers

British Airways has rejected suggestions it is prioritising new passengers over those stranded abroad.
Tens of thousands of people are hoping to return home after the airline disruption caused by volcanic ash.
Some passengers have complained that BA appears to be selling empty seats to new passengers on earlier flights.
But BA said these were being offered at very high prices to keep them empty on its computer booking system, so stranded passengers can be slotted in. "There are some seats available but at a much higher price. This is done on purpose, not to cash in," the spokesman said.
Meanwhile the airline is flying out some empty planes to certain destinations to bring back stranded customers.
"It remains an enormous challenge," said a BA spokesman of the task of flying home thousands of people whose flights were cancelled because of the recent cloud of volcano ash over Europe. He said thousands of its flights had been cancelled between Thursday last week and Wednesday this week.
Extra BA planes were despatched, on Thursday and Friday, to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Dubai, the Caribbean, and Sharm el-Sheikh.
Over the weekend the airline hopes to send out more extra planes to repatriate customers from New York, Newark, the Maldives, Mumbai, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Most of these will fly out with freight, or completely empty, and will be for the use of stranded customers only.
However, the number of extra flights is limited by the availability of empty planes, pilots and cabin crews.
In general, stranded customers of BA are being offered guaranteed seats for their replacement flights, which can be a week or so in the future. To get them back earlier, BA says it has to keep its computerised live seating system open, and this entails keeping some seats empty by overpricing them. The computer system will not allow BA to pretend there are no potential bookings - hence the empty seats must remain available for sale. This is the "most efficient way of handling the situation", said the spokesman.
However, if a new passenger does want to pay the much higher price for a ticket they will get it.
Ultimately the high price is proving to be a deterrent, keeping seats unsold, the airline said, so allowing it to allocate them at the last minute.
However, BA is urging customers to keep in close contact with it to be given free seats.
The airline says its much more difficult for BA to pro-actively keep in touch with stranded passengers than vice versa.
While they wait, stranded passengers flying into the EU should be being offered accommodation and food by their airline.
Meanwhile, Thomson Airways has apologised for the "confusion" caused by its reimbursement policy. It said it would now allow passengers a full refund of flights that were cancelled or allow them to be rebooked on flights to the same destination with no additional charge before 21 May.

4. They've put all remaining seats on at the highest possible fare to deter people from booking them, so allowing as many stand-by pax as possible to board.

All well and good, but it's beyond me why they can't simply do a "booking change" and rebook the people who are stuck into those empty seats. Possibly a manpower issue given the sheer numbers of people they need to handle...?

All well and good, but it's beyond me why they can't simply do a "booking change" and rebook the people who are stuck into those empty seats. Possibly a manpower issue given the sheer numbers of people they need to handle...?

Volunteers asked to give seats to stranded passengers

UK airlines are seeking volunteers to give up return seats so passengers still stranded after the volcanic ash cloud disruption can return home.
British Airways (BA) has asked customers who are booked on long-haul flights up to 2 May to make way for those who were stranded.
And Virgin Atlantic says many such volunteers have contacted the airline.
Earlier BA rejected suggestions it was prioritising new passengers over those stranded abroad.
British airspace reopened on Tuesday following almost a week of grounded flights. Although more planes than usual are flying, tens of thousands of Britons are still stuck overseas.
It is estimated that 10,000 are stranded in Egypt, 8,000 in India, 9,000 in Florida and 2,500 in Thailand, according to industry figures compiled by travel journalist Simon Calder.
Airlines are adopting different strategies to get their customers home as soon as possible.
BA is seeking volunteers who can delay their journey and give up their seat for a stranded passenger.
The company says those volunteers can then re-book on later flights at no extra cost.
BA said re-booked flights had to be at least 7 days after the original departure date.
Some passengers have complained that BA appeared to be selling empty seats on earlier flights to new passengers.
BA said its computer system forced empty seats to be made available for sale, but that the tickets had been significantly overpriced so they would remain unsold, allowing stranded passengers to be accommodated.
Virgin Atlantic is also taking up offers from volunteers who can fly home at a later date.
EasyJet said it was setting up stand-by desks in airports to process waiting passengers, while Ryanair said it had already cleared its backlog.
The Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) said it aimed to have repatriated more than 100,000 British passengers by the end of the weekend.
But chief executive Mark Tanzer said: "While most flights are back to normal, and most stranded British passengers will be back by the end of this weekend, there is still quite a high level of disruption in some destinations.
"In some areas of the world, there is a significant lack of air capacity to enable British people to be returned quickly."
Extra BA planes were despatched on Thursday and Friday to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Dubai, the Caribbean, and Sharm el-Sheikh.
Britons stranded in Bangkok are said to be too scared to leave Suvarnabhumi Airport for fear of being caught up in anti-government protests taking place in the capital.
Some passengers have described the situation as a "dog-eat-dog atmosphere" as fellow tourists scramble for flights home.
Briton Tim Rutledge, who is awaiting a flight home, said not only was there trouble with the protests, but it was "brewing up" and "getting a bit nasty" inside the airline offices at the airport.
Over the weekend BA also hopes to send out extra planes to repatriate customers from New York, Newark, the Maldives, Mumbai, Bangkok and Hong Kong.
Most of these will fly out with freight, or completely empty, and will be used for stranded customers only.
However, the number of extra flights is limited by the availability of empty planes, pilots and cabin crews.
A spokesperson for Virgin said the worst affected areas were the Caribbean and Florida and that they were chartering extra flights from other airlines to return those stranded there.
The spokesperson added that people who do not have a flight reservation should not turn up at airports.

Hmm... I wonder if ASW are having trouble filling their planes.

Update on Tuesday May 4 at 0630

Based on the latest information from the Met Office and the CAA, NATS advises that, due to a heavy concentration of volcanic ash, a no-fly zone is in place in the west of Scotland and Northern Ireland, including some airports in the Western Isles from 0700 (local time) until at least 1300 (local time).

Apart from the no-fly zone, normal air traffic control operations are expected within Scottish airspace during this period, including Scottish airports, although some regulation may be required in light of operational experience.

Conditions around the movement of the layers of the volcanic ash cloud over the UK remain dynamic. NATS will continue to monitor the latest Met Office information and the CAA^s updates on the density of the ash cloud across the UK.

The next update will be at approximately 1200 (local time).

Warning of ash flight disruption

Parts of the UK's airspace are at risk of closure from Sunday because of volcanic activity in Iceland, the Department for Transport has said.
Disruption could affect some of the UK's busiest airports in south-east England until Tuesday, it warned.
Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said passenger safety was the government's top priority.
Ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano caused disruption to thousands of flights during April.

Airports across much of the UK are to close between 1300 and 1900 BST as volcanic ash drifts across Europe, the air traffic authority Nats has said.

In England, East Midlands, Manchester, Liverpool, Doncaster, Humberside and Carlisle airports will be hit by the Civil Aviation Authority's no-fly zone. Airports in Northern Ireland, Prestwick near Glasgow, those on Scottish islands and the Isle of Man are also affected.

London airports are unaffected, while Dublin remains open on Sunday. Planes have been grounded in other parts of the Irish Republic. Travellers are being advised to check with their airline before leaving home.
 
The volcano has become more active again in recent weeks. The UK no-fly zones are set out by the Civil Aviation Authority using Met Office data. Forecasts suggest the ash cloud could extend further over the UK during Monday and Tuesday.

As a result of the disruption to UK airports we are running four additional services on Monday 17th May. This means that we are offering an extra 3,500 seats at a special price of ^89 / ^96 one-way.

From London to Paris (direct service only):
Train 9020: Dep 11:01 - arr 14:17
Train 9040: Dep 16:32 - arr 19:47

From Paris to London (direct service only):
Train 9045: Dep 16:43 - arr 17:59
Train 9061: Dep 20:43 - arr 21:59

The following additional service will run

08:08 Preston to Glasgow Central

The following trains will have more seats than normal

    05:30 Birmingham New Street to Holyhead
    06:17 Birmingham New Street to Edinburgh Waverley
    08:00 Glasgow Central to Birmingham New Street
    08:52 Edinburgh Waverley to Birmingham New Street
    08:55 Holyhead to London Euston
    09:10 London Euston to Holyhead
    10:52 Edinburgh Waverley to Birmingham New Street
    12:20 Birmingham New Street to Edinburgh Waverley
    13:20 Birmingham New Street to Glasgow Central
    13:58 Holyhead to London Euston
    14:30 London Euston to Lancaster
    15:20 Birmingham New Street to Glasgow Central
    16:35 Chester to London Euston
    16:52 Edinburgh Waverley to Birmingham New Street
    17:37 Lancaster to London Euston
    17:40 Glasgow Central to Birmingham New Street
    19:10 London Euston to Holyhead
    20:10 Glasgow Central to Crewe
    21:20 Birmingham New Street to Preston

UK ash cloud restrictions easing

Flight restrictions have been lifted at all UK airports after the volcanic ash cloud over UK airspace moved away.
Knock-on disruption continues but there will be no flight groundings on the mainland at least until 0100 BST on Tuesday, UK air traffic control said.
After a weekend that saw thousands of passengers stranded, only Shetland and Orkney airports are closed to planes.
Meanwhile, new rules to allow planes to fly at higher ash densities have been agreed and will operate from Tuesday.
At talks between the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), airlines, regulators, and aircraft and engine manufacturers a new "time limited zone" was set up.
From midday on Tuesday this will allow planes to fly for a limited period when volcanic ash is present in the air at higher ash densities than currently permitted.
The CAA said airlines had to present it with safety information - including the agreement of their aircraft and engine manufacturers - to be allowed to fly in the new zone.
One airline boss - British Airways' Willie Walsh - had criticised the weekend's restrictions as "a gross over-reaction to a very minor risk".
Weather forecasters said the ash cloud from Iceland was now being blown away.
However, there may be some restrictions to helicopter operations in the North Sea, where a no-fly zone is still in force.
Across the country:
^ In Northern Ireland , flights were able to operate from all three of Northern Ireland's airport from 1300 BST, but delays and cancellations were still possible.
^ In Scotland flights were cancelled for the rest of the day in Orkney and the Shetland Islands while Scotland's other airports reopened.
^ In Wales, airports are open. However Cardiff airport is warning that some disruptions and cancellations remain in place following earlier restrictions.
Airport operators are advising passengers to check for delays to their flights with airlines, who are working to clear the backlog of delayed passengers.
By the time restrictions were lifted on Monday, flights were cancelled or delayed by up to six hours at the UK's major airports.
Thousands of passengers were left to rebook their flights or to wait in airports for new departure times.
Network Rail pledged to do everything possible to help stranded and delayed travellers make journeys by train.
Virgin Trains said 7,000 extra seats had been made available on Monday, mainly on routes between Birmingham and Glasgow and Edinburgh, and between London Euston and Glasgow.
Eurostar laid on six extra trains through the Channel Tunnel on Monday, amounting to about 5,500 additional seats.
In the Netherlands, Amsterdam's Schiphol and Rotterdam airports reopened from 1300 local time (1200 BST) after being closed for seven hours.
Since the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted last month, throwing huge amounts of ash into the air, thousands of flights have been delayed or cancelled across Europe due to fears that ash could turn into molten glass within a hot jet engine, crippling the aircraft.
The latest UK disruption saw airspace over Northern Ireland close first on Saturday, before the cloud moved south and grounded flights in many parts of the UK on Sunday.
Among the affected travellers who contacted the BBC News website was Matt Pope, from Guildford, who e-mailed to say it was the third time the ash had disrupted his travel plans. On the first occasion he was stuck in North Carolina for six days. He wrote: "Last weekend the Easyjet flight from Prague to Gatwick was cancelled due to aircraft positioning problems after ash in central Europe. This was after we ran the marathon and I missed my flight to Singapore the next day causing expensive rescheduling. Now I am sat at Heathrow awaiting for a flight to NY. Will this ever end?"
Flight restrictions depend on how dense the ash cloud is.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had already raised the density threshold level that forces a flight ban, following six days of airport closures last month. But after the latest airport closures over the weekend, airlines criticised the amended regulations.
BA chief executive Mr Walsh said: "I am very concerned that we have decisions on opening and closing of airports based on a theoretical model. There was no evidence of ash in the skies over London today, yet Heathrow was closed."
He said that airlines flew safely in other parts of the world where there was volcanic activity. "If we can do it in every other part of the world, I can assure you we can do it in the UK as well."
On Sunday, Virgin Atlantic president Sir Richard Branson called the closure of Manchester airport "beyond a joke".