Uk Firms announce £165 million ash cloud costs

Thomsons Holidays and Easyjet have released the expected costs so far from the Icelandic volcano eruptions that is still wreaking havoc accross Europe. The owner of Thomson's TUI said the ash cloud had cost £90 million up to date due to 175,000 holiday cancellations.

Easyjet stated there bill was currently at £75 million but both firms were confident that they would recover a large part of the money from EU governments. An Easyjet cheif blamed the authorities for not having contingency plans in place.

Yesterday a Thomsons plane that left Exter airport was bound for Maderia but after a three hour flight the ash cloud had moved over Maderia forcing the plane to return to Exeter resulting in a 6 hour flight round trip.

Further disruptions are expected today due to the ash cloud at Spain, Portugal, France and the Canary Islands.