The head of the International Airways Volcano Watch group, Peter Lechner who lives in Wellington, said today that their group has been warning about volcanoes for the last 10 years or more. There are nine volcanic ash warning centres around the world, including Wellington. The others are Darwin, London, Toulouse, Montreal, Anchorage, Washington and Buenos Aires.

This group started after the volcanic eruptions by Mt Ruapehu in New Zealand in 1995. Listen to April 18th 2010 to hear about this.

The group wants new technology in satellites which could show the thickness of the volcanic ash cloud. The group also says there needs to be more research to find out how much volcanic ash is dangerous to planes. Is it a little or a lot? The cost of this technology and research would be less than the cost that airlines are facing today. Emirates, for instance, says it is losing $70m a day.

The problem with volcanic ash could happen again, in Alaska or Indonesia or other countries which have active volcanoes.