British Airways chief Willie Walsh demands financial compensation from EU and national governments because of closure of airlines due to volcanic ash cloud.

Aviation industry was recovering in the beginning of 2010 after facing losses of nearly $9bn caused by hike in fuel cost and decrease in demand.

The volcanic ash over the Northern European airspace close down all the air travel, resulting an estimated loss of $200m every day to the aviation industry.

But the chief Walsh still restored the confidence of investors and assured that the group has £1.7bn of cash and more than £400m credit available.

BA calls for financial assistance under European Commission rules according to which member states are allowed to compensate companies for any damage caused by natural disasters.

Not only BA is affected by the ash cloud, Ryanair and Easyjet have also cancelled their flights.

Flights have been cancelled as the mix of glass, sand and rock in the ash can damage aircraft engines and cause them to break down.

But no evident effect from the ash to the test flights has been found, putting pressure on airlines including BA, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa to rethink.