Air traffic chaos leaves dozens of rental cars stranded in Helsinki

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The cloud of ash from the volcanic eruption in Iceland and the consequent airport and airspace closures led to a situation in which dozens of foreign rental cars have been lying idle in Helsinki.
     
When air traffic was in a standstill, Finns rented cars all over Europe in order to drive back home.
      As late as last week, a dozen or so foreign cars from Italy, Germany, Slovenia, Hungary, and the Nordic countries were parked in the parking places of Hertz, Avis, and Europcar. Today, only a few of them are left.
     
According to manager Jani Pernu from Hertz, the number of cars lying there at the same time was exceptionally large.
      ”When the planes took off, enquiries stopped coming in almost immediately”, Pernu reports.
      Cars have been returned abroad along many routes: Avis cars have been fetched by officials coming for example from Austria, while Hertz has rented out cars registered in various European countries to citizens of those countries, and Europcar has sent their cars by ferry back to Germany.
     
Thanks to the sea routes, the number of cars stuck in Finland has been small compared with that in some other European countries.
      Managing Director Jussi Holopainen of Europcar Finland says that hundreds of rental cars hired by Finns had been driven as far as Sweden and left there, as all ferries were full, and were accepting only foot passengers.
      In order to get rid of the jam, for example Hertz made a Europe-wide decision, according to which only standard rates for rental cars were to be paid, even though an additional drop-off charge would normally be applicable in cases of one-way rentals.
      In other words, if for example a French tourist returned home by a French-based rental car that had been "left behind" in Spain, all he or she had to pay was the standard rate.
     
When leaving Finland for continental Europe, such drop-off charges could be considerable, because of the long distances involved.
      For example, a drop-off charge for a Hertz rental car to be driven from Finland to Germany and left there would be in the region of EUR 1,500.
     
Now might possibly a good moment to check out ways of penny-pinching on one's travel budget.
      Would it be possible, for instance, to locate a Norwegian-based rental car that needs taking back to Norway? Only if one can be bothered.
      Vehicle taxation regulations actually prohibit Finns from driving foreign-registered cars within the national borders. Because of the ash situation, these rules were temporarily waived.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Air traffic returning to normal - all bans lifted in Finland (23.4.2010)

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