The Icelandic volcanic eruption of 2010 affected the world. When nature blew tons of ash into the air in Iceland, it was caught by the jet stream and made its way to Europe. Being a danger to high-altitude aircraft, which are always cautious about what enters its engines, airports across Europe were shutdown. This included one of London’s busiest airports- Stansted Airport.

The Stansted Airport and ash problem affected all the airlines that use the airport. Aircraft could not get in or out of the airport for about a week. Two of the impacted airlines are the two largest presences at the airport in EasyJet and Ryanair. However, Ryanair’s presence is massive comparative top any other airline at the airport. They have over a hundred locations they service from the airport. That was a huge amount of passengers stranded in London and elsewhere. Once, cleared the airline did much to get stranded passengers on their way.

Unlike, other smaller United Kingdom airports, much of Stansted’s destinations are international rather than domestic. Many airlines may have just a few flights, but they are international in nature. This means that many people could not simply opt for a ground based option to travel during the volcanic ash shutdown. Some UK airports are regional airports that serve flights to destinations that could be reached by car, bus, rail, or ferry. However, many at Stansted had to wait for flights to resume for the lack any other options. Unfortunately, that also meant crowded aircrafts as everyone was anxious to get on his or her way when flights resumed.