Markets and airspace

Some media have recently claimed that the drought in the US reduced the available crop and, importantly, investors would not only benefit more than anybody else - it was them driving the prices. Nevertheless, it seems that this time a number of investors simply missed out. Actually, they held short positions or reduced their longs (e.g., Dow Jones UBS Commodity Index) on corn and wheat since the farmers were out on the fields early this year and a rather good turn-out was expected. Only recently, fonds invested in long positions to participate and for correcting their losses. Nevertheless, this suggests that at least the initial increase in prices in June was caused by food and fuel producers. Hopes are now focussing on harvests Brazil and other parts of South America. But if everybody is buying corn in Brazil, prices will rise - without the contribution of evil forces (investors) whatsoever.
On another note, the Financial Times Deutschland published a report saying that AESA was investigating three incidents on 26 July 2012. Following a thunderstorm at Bajaras airport (Madrid, Spain) all flights were redirected to the much smaller Manises airport (Valencia, Spain). This included all Ryanair services to Madrid. The small capacity of the airfield (compared to Bajaras) and the unusual large number of flights arriving resulted in a massive hold time, i.e. aircraft had to remain in flight and wait for a landing slot. Within a timespan of three minutes, three Ryanair flights issued a Mayday call to Air Traffic Control after their fuel was hitting the 30 mins in-air minimum requirement. Thus, these flights were given highest priority to perform emergency landings. According to the news, allegations include that Ryanair acted systematically in not refuelling their machines appropriately. This was backed by the German pilot union (Cockpit) alleging Ryanair of pressuring pilots into refuelling at the bare minimum. Furthermore, the Irish Independent published reports that pilots who would use too much fuel or refuel above limit would be bullied and had to report for failing to achieve target numbers, which was denied by O'Leary. The emergency landings caused potential dangers as other aircraft had to remain in flight for longer which in turn reduced their fuel. Thus, AESA investigates whether the safety of Spanish air space was put at a risk as a matter of misconduct. It should be noted that another three aircraft were calling Mayday over Valencia this day (two EasyJet and one LAN Chile). All three of them for the same reason - a lack of fuel. Though these cases appear to be independent from the Ryanair flights under investigation. A Spanish consumers association said Ryanair could be banned from Spanish airspace for up to three years which is one of their main destinations. O'Leary denied any misconduct and said aircraft were handled and refuelled as required by EU regulation. He argued the problem was not Ryanair's refuelling policy but an unusually long hold time in Valencia. Furthermore, O'Leary insisted Ryanair's licence was issued by the Irish regulatory body and Spain could not expire or amend their licence.