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Etihad Airways to shake off ash crisis in few days: CEO

ABU DHABI - Etihad Airways is on its way to recover from the Iceland Volcanic ash cloud which disrupted flights to and from Europe.

The UAE's national carrier's operations will return to full schedule in five days, according to its CEO James Hogan.

Hogan told WAM that Etihad Airways had formed a 200-member crisis management team to deal with the aftermath of the ash clouds, focusing mainly on the passengers stranded in the different airports, including over 2,500 passengers in Abu Dhabi airport.

"The stranded passengers were given accommodation in 16 Abu Dhabi hotels. Abu Dhabi Airports Company, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, the airport police and immigration authorities did a great job in offering all forms of assistance to the passengers. When the travel ban was lifted, they did their best to ferry the passengers to their respective destinations without further delays," he added.

Hogan revealed that Eihad was in contacts with the British and European airports to run additional flights in order to carry UAE passengers stranded there.

He indicated that Etihad's losses from the volcanic ash clouds spiraled to US$30 million.

"Ensuring passengers and crews' safety and security is more important to us than making or losing money," he commented.

Hogan said that volcanic ash crisis had a far damaging impact on the aviation industry than that of the 9/11 and Tsunami.