Airlines lost at least $1.7 billion during the volcanic ash crisis, the industry said Wednesday. Giovanni Bisignani, the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), called the economic fallout from the six-day travel shutdown “devastating” and urged European governments to examine ways to compensate airlines for lost revenues, as the US government did following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. He said it would take three years for the industry to recover from the week of lost flying time that stranded millions around the globe. Spain, meanwhile, has developed into a key emergency travel hub, arranging for hundreds of special flights to move over 40,000 people stranded by the travel disruptions.Its airports and airspace have mostly remained open throughout the crisis.
