Aspect Car Rental BlogNews and views about car hire and rental world wide.

After 6 days of airport closures the airlines are losing money hand over fist! True they are saving money on fuel costs but those savings don’t balance their losses. It also seems that the biggere carriers such as BA are losing more than the budget airlines like Ryan Air and easyJet.

This is not just because of the difference in ticket costs but also because unlike the larger airlines, the smaller ones are less generous to their passengers! They give less help in the way of hotel and food costs, so passengers stranded away from home are incurring more costs if they flew with a budget airline. Will it have any effect on passenger numbers for those budget airlines when travel is normal again? Who knows but I suspect many will think twice before booking in the immediate future.

The ash cloud has not been all bad news though, coach and rail passengers have increased with Eurostar passengers up by some 40%, it’s going to be up to them to provide such a great service that they’ll keep some of those numbers when the airlines are flying normally again.

Of course it’s not just the airlines that are suffering, experts estimate that European businesses are losing 400 million a day in lost productivity due to stranded employees. Will governments step in and help the airlines and other companies in this fragile economic climate? It could be disastrous if they don’t and equally bad if they do because they can’t help everyone and those smaller companies will probably be the ones who suffer!

They are also the ones who will probably need help the most but what is government to do? Larger companies have more employees and those are the ones they’ll probably feel must be saved.

So who would have thought it eh? Iceland has a volcanic eruption and Heathrow airport (as well as many others are shut down!  In fact feel sorry for all those people who are booked to fly into or out of Heathrow today (Thursday April 15th 2010) because they’re going to be out of luck. If you know someone who is booked to fly through Heathrow, you may want to let them know the problem.

The volcanic eruption has thrown 1000’s of tons of ash and smoke into the sky, the winds have carried it to Europe, affecting many major (and smaller) airports. The problem seems to be twofold, one is of course visibility, the other however is far more serious, because shards of volcanic matter up to 1&1/2 inches long are also floating around and there is a danger of those shards entering and engine and in several ways causing it to fail.

It seems that mother nature can still confound us even with all our technological advances!

If you have booked a hire car from Heathrow then you may want to check with the car rental company or broker with whom you booked, to if you can either cancel or amend your booking, they may or may not be able to help you but it’s always worth a try – assuming of course that you can get through on the phone – I suspect they will be very busy!!

Many airports have been affected, including some on mainland Europe, so check your flights for details.

If you’ve travelled to Charleston and picked up your hire car from the airport, then you may want some ideas for things to do and places to see whilst you’re in the lovely town of Charleston.

Where to start is the problem though isn’t it? There is so much to see and do that you can be spoiled for choice; so maybe the best thing is to decide first what exactly you’re interested in.

For example. Are you into food, history, gardens, or shopping? Once you’ve decided you can begin to plan your excursions.

Food is very important to Southerners. Its the cornerstone of their famous hospitality and so, as you would expect, there are many places to eat and eat well!

Are you into seafood? Then try the Amen Street Fish & Raw Bar. Opened in 2009 it’s wowed the locals with it’s amazing oysters and locally caught fish. Situated at

205 East Bay Street
Charleston, SC 29401

(843) 853-8600

Try the Crab and lobster soup with tarragon cream at around $4.95 a cup or $6.95 a bowl – it’s a great lunch dish and very reasonably priced too.

Of course you may want a little more than a bowl of fabulous soup. Here you’ll find it from fried oysters to Chef Todd’s famous shrimp corndogs. If meat is more your thing you can have an Amen burger or a Petite Filet of Beef.

This restaurant has a full bar which is open ‘til 2.00am and is set in the historic district within walking distance of the market and the harbour. Remember though, you have a hire car and drinking and driving do not mix – so this is a place to walk to or get a taxi. Save driving the hire car for more distant locations.

Most importantly of all, having picked up your car at the airport enjoy your stay!