Aviation conference in Iceland to discuss impact of Eyjafjallajokull volcano

Between September 15th and 16th 2010, aviation leaders, experts and policy-makers from all over the world will gather at Keflavik Airport in Iceland to discuss what lessons have been learnt from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption. The aviation conference, organised by the Keilir Aviation Academy in cooperation with ICAO, IATA and others, will also explore how technology, rules, regulations and aviation training can be improved to deal with volcanic eruptions accordingly in the future.

The Eyjafjallajokull and Aviation conference will cover topics such as; What happened at Eyjafjallajokull? Why was Europe’s airspace closed? What procedures were followed? What has been learnt? What are the effects of volcanic ash on airplanes and can they been reduced? What steps are to be taken, and by whom, to minimise the threats that volcanic ash poses to aviation?

Conference participants will discover how the aviation and science communities can work together to increase safety and efficiency in dealing with future eruptions. Confirmed speakers will come from the civil aviation authorities across Europe, Russia, China, the U.S., and the European Commission. In addition to aviation authority members, scientists from the University of Iceland, USGS, NASA NILU, and DLR will also be discussing the issues of volcanic eruptions and volcanic ash detection and distribution.

Confirmed speakers at the aviation conference include; Mr. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson Presi-dent of Iceland, Mr. Daniel Calleja-Crespo Director of Air Transport European Commission, Ms. Nancy Graham Director ICAO Air Navigation Bureau, Mr. Karsten Theil Regional Director of ICAO’s European and North Atlantic Office, Mr. Gunther Matschnigg Senior Vice President for IATA Safety and Operations, Mr. Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus Secretary General AEA, Mr. Graham Lake Director General CANSO, Mr. John Vincent Head of Safety Analysis and Research EASA, Mr. Douglas Kihm BOEING Technical Fellow, Capt. M. Manfred Birnfeld senior flight test engineer AIRBUS, Mr. Patrick Emmott SVP Technical Service Rolls-Royce, Eng. Jacques Renvier SVP SNECMA, Steve Creamer Brussels FAA Executive, Mr. Tom Hendricks ATA Vice President-Operations and Safety.

The Eyjafjallajokull and Aviation conference is organised by the Keilir Aviation Academy, in cooperation with the President of Iceland Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, the Minister of Transport Kristjan L. Moller, the U.S. Embassy and the Embassy of the Russian Federations in Iceland, as well as ICAO, IATA, ATA, AEA, ICAA, ISAVIA, IMO and Icelandair.

For further information about the conference and to register, visit http://en.keilir.net/keilir/conferences/eyjafjallajokull