Posted on April 27, 2010 by Fiona Hilliard

Last week’s European airspace shutdown resulted in 22% of international car hire bookings being cancelled and over 95% of passengers not showing up to collect their cars at European airports, according to latest figures. At the moment, the disruption is thought to amount to an estimated loss of €65 million (£57 million).

Overall, the volcanic eruption in Iceland meant 100,000 flights were cancelled and 10 million passengers were affected.

Fleet management is still trying to sort out the mess that resulted from companies receiving unprecedented requests for one way rentals. Those who were stranded abroad had no other option but to get home by road. The logistical headache in returning the vehicles to their pick-up location has resulted in almost 10% of car rental fleets being displaced outside of their home country.

Car rental companies based in island destinations around Europe including the UK, Ireland and the Mediterranean islands were hit particularly hard as customers could not travel to the airport by any means to pick up their car.

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