In a bid to prevent a repeat of the disruption caused to European businesses, passengers and airlines by the volcanic ash cloud which closed the skies over Europe for nearly a week last month, European Union transport ministers have been meeting in Brussels.

A number of measures have been agreed upon, and the European Commission has announced that it will be drawing up guidelines which will allow airlines to receive compensation for loss of earnings from governments.

Other measures include opening up the skies over Europe so that they are controlled by a single European regulator. Following the meeting, Siim Kallas, the European Transport Commissioner, said that there was no way to prevent a similar situation occurring some time in the future. He said that it was inevitable that it would happen again, and that he wanted to ensure that next time there would be measures in place to avoid a crisis.

Many airlines have complained that the ban on flights was too severe, and that governing bodies had been too cautious in their appraisal of the situation. Airlines are estimating that the ash crisis has cost them many millions of pounds.

The carriers have also complained that the present system of having to negotiate some 27 different airspaces when flying over Europe has to be simplified. Plans to put a single regulator in charge of all of Europe’s airspace are expected to make coordinating a response to situations such as giant volcanic ash clouds, somewhat easier to manage in the future.