21 Apr 2010 | Stuart Conlan

How Volcanic Ash is Impacting the Stock Market 

Europe’s largest air travel shutdown since World War II has caused problems not only for stranded air passengers and freight business; it has also affected share prices in the aviation sector and for travel groups.  Companies such as British Airways, easyJet and Thomas Cook have been some of the worst hit and the FTSE 100 index of leading shares has reflected this anxiety over the past few days. 

With airspace now reopened and services slowly beginning to resume, a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association claims that these recent events have had a bigger economic impact than the September 11 attacks. 

The difference between recent events and those of almost 10 years ago however, is that this time there is no collapse of confidence in the aviation sector.  At Baillie Gifford, we’re in it for the long haul.  We concentrate on the long term prospects of individual companies rather than trying to predict and react to shorter term market movements. 

Nonetheless, we do hope that things return to normal very shortly.