Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 12:59PM

In the wake of the largest weather-related air travel disruption in recent memory, the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull, a number of major airlines in Europe have reported economic losses, compared to the levels of revenue they expected to earn in March and April this year.

Scandinavian-based airlines in particular report being hard-hit economically, relative to the earnings they were expecting for March and April. Last week, low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle reported a loss, relative to expected earnings, of at least 100 million units of its currency, the krone. (That is, at least 12.9 million EUR; at least 11 million GBP; and at least 16.25 million USD.) It lamented on one hand, that more than 2,000 of its scheduled flights had to be cancelled. But, on the other hand, the airline maintained an on-time performance ratio of 91 percent. It is the fourth-largest low-cost carrier in Europe.

Another Scandinavian-based carrier, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), was not so lucky. Expected earnings for Europe’s ninth-largest carrier were off at least 650 million SEK (67.8 million EUR; 57.8 million GBP; 85.4 million USD) including the entire month of April and the first week of May. SAS added that it appeared bookings on its flights for May and June had also been decreased (compared to expected numbers) due to the ash cloud the settled over Europe last month, paralyzing air traffic.

Tuesday, Austria’s flag carrier Austrian Airlines announced a 5.2 percent decrease in number of passengers carried from April 2009 to April 2010, a slump it attributes to the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. The carrier did not report actual earnings during April 2010 in contrast with expected earnings during that month, or the difference between those two figures. Rather remarkably, a member of the airline’s executive board said Austrian is “still on course to achieve [its] goals,” presumably speaking about 2010 yearly goals.

The low-cost German carrier Air Berlin was forced to cancel “more than 3,500 flights” because of the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. Online, Air Berlin expressed its economic loss last April relative to the previous April, in an unusual manner. It is expressed in terms of revenue (in EUR cents) per available seat-kilometer, a measurement which cannot possibly mean much to most lay readers. And unfortunately, we are still left with an unclear picture as to how effectively Air Berlin weathered the disruption.

Icelandair, the flag carrier of Iceland, has not, as of this post, reported on earnings for the month of April. A general assessment from Icelandair of the economic effects of the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull no doubt seems premature, because it is expected there may yet be more major effects to come.

In contrast, one North American carrier, in its own assessment, received a shot in the arm from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. Air Canada, in its April traffic report published online last week, said that inconvenience caused to its passengers was minimal. The Canadian flag carrier possesses a plurality of the market share at St. John’s International Airport (IATA: YYT; ICAO: CYYT), North America’s easternmost airport. Its operations there were only minimally affected. The airport closed once, for a few hours late April 18 and early April 19 (UTC-2:30), due to concerns the ash cloud would reach North America.

Here is an article from Tuesday, along with spectacular new video probably taken from a propeller plane near Eyjafjallajökull during a recent eruption of the volcano.

The last time Eyjafjallajökull erupted on a scale this large or larger was 1821-1822. Historical records indicate the eruption lasted for fifteen months.

related stories

The spread of volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajökull over time (May 4, 2010)

Norwegian Air Shuttle press release

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) press release

Austrian Airlines press release

Air Berlin press release

Air Canada press release

[This version corrects an earlier version that wrongly said that the earlier eruption lasted two years.]

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