Air Chaos in Europe
German Chancellor Forced to Land in Lisbon Instead of Berlin
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is greeted by Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates after she landed at Lisbon airport on Friday. Merkel's government plane, en route from California to Berlin, had to be redirected to Lisbon due to the massive cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland blanketing much of Europe.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, flying aboard her Airbus government plane as she returned from a four-day visit to the United States, had to land in Lisbon, Portugal on Friday afternoon because of the unprecedented closure of most of Northern Europe's airspace.
The chancellor landed in Portugal at around 4:30 p.m. German time, a government spokesperson stated. The chancellor and the delegation traveling with her are expected to spend the night in the Portuguese capital, where the German embassy is preparing accommodations for the unexpected guests.
Airports across Germany remain closed on Friday because of an ash plume caused by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. The crew flying Merkel's plane is required to have a break following the long trans-Atlantic flight and her plane cannot continue to Berlin until Saturday morning at the earliest.
Originally, Merkel had been scheduled to land at Berlin's Tegel Airport at 3:30 p.m., but airspace has been closed across northern Germany all day Friday because of the volcanic ash, which can damage jet engines. Merkel had taken off from San Francisco on Thursday night.
Governing with an iPad
Merkel isn't the only European leader who has had trouble getting back home. Ironically, Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva was also left stranded in Prague after Czech officials closed the country's airspace on Friday.
And with the Oslo airport closed, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg had to be diverted to Madrid. His press secretary told CNN that Stoltenberg is currently using his new iPad to govern the country. The government's Flickr account shows Stoltenberg using the iPad with the caption "working at the airport."
Merkel's next challenge is likely to be getting to Poland. On Sunday, she is expected to take part together with German President Horst Köhler in the funeral ceremony for Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who was killed together with his wife and a delegation of high-ranking government employees, military officers and members of parliament in Smolensk, Russia last Saturday. But on Friday, there were already murmerings in Warsaw that the funeral in Krakow might be delayed because of the volcanic eruption and the volume of world leaders planning to attend, including US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
The ash plume has also created problems for Germany's armed forces, the Bundeswehr, which has been trying to fly severely wounded soldiers injured in an attack by the Taliban back to hospitals in Germany since Thursday. A Bundeswehr spokesperson said it was not known when the soldiers could be flown to Germany for emergency treatment. Four German soldiers were killed in the incident and five others injured, including two seriously.