Aircontact arranges charter flights for ash cloud stranded passengers

In mid-April 2010 most parts of European air space closed due to volcanic ash from Iceland, and created huge problems for the airlines and their stranded passengers. Aircontact was requested by individuals as well as travel agencies to arrange charter flights, to bring them as close to their end destinations as possible.

The first flight took place with a large group who had attended an exhibition in Las Vegas. A Boeing 757-200 took off from Las Vagas towars Norway, via Rockford to load more passengers, before continuing to its journey. Trondheim was filed as end destination, but in case the situation allowed it, Oslo would be the final stop. The situation improved during flight and the aircraft was re-routed in the air to land in Oslo. Extremely happy passengers disembarked at Oslo Airport, Gardermoen,being welcomed by their family and friends.  

Another accomplishment by Aircontact was when a leading travel agency in Norway decided to help individual pax by setting up charter flights for them as a replacement for cancelled scheduled flights , originating in Dubai and New York. These flights collected stranded pax from both Middle and Far East, as well as South and North America, with destination Spain, which was still open for traffic. Two Boeing 757-200s were used for these flights. Just before departing, the cloud situation for Norway improved, but at this stage the chartered aircraft could not be re-routed due to crew duty limitation and other later commitments. Two new aircraft were chartered to bring the passengers bound for Norway from Spain to Oslo, with departure just hours after the passengers from Dubai and New York arrived at Barcelona Airport.

Managing Director Ulf Gregersen says in a comment that only a large and well connected air broker company like Aircontact could manage such a task, involving continuous work around the clock.