4/27/2010
HEADLINES
SHOW NEWS: Wire, IFMSA & NFDA Participants Finally Fly Home After Volcano Strands Them
Volcanic ash from Iceland grounded flights across Europe and to the continent. (Armar Thorisson/Associated Press)
Participants in Wire 2010 in Düsseldorf, Germany, and the National Fastener Distributors Association spring conference in San Antonio were stranded away from home due to the April 15 volcano in Iceland.
Several finally returned home on April 22.
An erupting volcano in Iceland sent an ash cloud over Europe, paralyzing trans-Atlantic flights since April 15. More than 95,000 flights were canceled during the biggest flight disruptions since 9/11.
Ray Zirkle and Doug Zirkle and other exhibitors and members of the IFMSA were stranded in Düsseldorf, Germany. The show ran from April 12-16.
Zirkle said several IFMSA members chose to call on customers in Europe while waiting for the air travel ban to be lifted. Others drove to Rome to catch flights back to North America.
Zirkle said flights were “touch and go” and he didn’t know if he’d get on a flight when he went to the Düsseldorf airport to wait for a standby seat on a 6 a.m. flight on April 22. “At least we had a clean bed at Holiday Inn,” Zirkle said of the nearly one-week delay.
Fastener Technology International editor Mike McNulty also returned on the 22nd. “It was quite an experience,” McNulty said of the extended trip.
Wire 2010 ran from April 12 to 16. IFMSA met in conjunction with the Wire show.
There were 147 fastener manufacturing-related exhibiting companies at Wire 2010. Overall there were 1,223 exhibiting companies.
National Machinery sales director, Jerry Bupp, who ended up stranded in Europe as a result of the ash cloud pouring from an Icelandic volcano but he told Fastener+Fixing Magazine he had no complaints about the Wire 2010 show in Dusseldorf.
“I am very happy this flight issue happened after the show,” said Bupp, “or else wire would have been a disaster.” ©2010 GlobalFastenerNews.com
Related Stories:
Share: