Car rental
firms in Europe are counting the cost of the recent volcanic ash disruption as news emerges that the sector lost Euro 65 million over the six-day crisis.
Dublin-based car rental distribution firm Cartrawler says around 22% of bookings were cancelled as flights were hit when air space were shut down systematically across the continent.
A eye-watering 95% of cars were not collected at airports impacted by the crisis.
Some estimates suggest around 10 million air passengers were affected during the shutdown and the cost to airlines is currently put at around $1.7 billion.
The aftermath of the shutdown has affected the car rental sector in a similar way to the airlines and passengers - many cars were hired on one-way bookings by stranded passengers and are now scattered across the continent, CarTrawler says.
Around 10% of the entire car rental fleet is estimated to be located outside of its home country.