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London, April 15: Britain on Thursday afternoon closed all its airports, including Heathrow and Gatwick which handle most of its international air traffic, as a huge cloud of ash which erupted from a volcano in Iceland drifted into UK airspace.

Volcanic ash can cause engine damage to aircraft, according to Britain’s met office. “Volcanic ash can be dangerous for aircraft, causing damage, reducing visibility, and potentially clogging engines.”
The volcanic ash, which entered British airspace overnight, was caused by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano on Iceland. The met office is constantly monitoring the path of the volcanic ash plume and current forecasts indicate ash may be present over the UK on Thursday and Friday. This forecast has led to cancellation of all flights in the UK, Ireland and northern European countries like Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
“From midday today until at least 6 pm, there will be no flights permitted in UK-controlled airspace other than emergency situations,” a National Air Traffic Service spokesperson said on Thursday afternoon. “This has been applied in accordance with international civil aviation policy. We continue to monitor the situation with the met office and work closely with airline customers and adjoining countries,” the air traffic control service spokesperson added.
Eurocontrol, Europe’s air safety body, said Thursday that “based on the guidelines of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, normal air traffic control services cannot be provided to flights in airspaces affected by volcanic ash. Therefore, several air navigation service providers have issued notifications to airlines requiring the temporary suspension of air traffic.”
However, NATS head of safety Paul Haskins said it was unlikely that the flight restriction would be raised by 6 pm. “We think it’s very unlikely that the restrictions will be lifted after 6 pm, our team will obviously update throughout the afternoon, but it looks unlikely at this time,” he told BBC News.
The met office has said that the volcanic ash will not reach the ground in Britain. “Importantly, the current high pressure conditions over the UK are resulting in the ash cloud remaining at high levels in the atmosphere, with little possibility of any reaching the ground within the UK,” it said.
BAA, which runs Heathrow airport, also confirmed that it had suspended all flights until further notice. “No further flights expected to depart or arrive today. This is due to the closing of British airspace as volcanic ash is spreading across the UK from Iceland. We apologise for the disruption and inconvenience this will cause passengers. Safety is our number one priority and we are doing everything we can to restore a normal service as soon as it is safe to do so,” BAA said, adding that no passengers should travel to the airport.
British Airways flights from Hyderabad and New Delhi, which were scheduled to land in Heathrow at 1 pm, were among the last few flights to land at 12.30 pm on Thursday.
Early Thursday morning, the UK air traffic control body closed down Manchester, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast airports, and the decision to shut down all flight activity in British airspace was taken at 9.30 am on Thursday.
Airports across Britain have urged passengers to contact their airlines to either cancel or get updates on when their flights will actually take off.
According to Britain’s Health Protection Agency, the plume of volcanic ash currently trapped in the atmosphere above the UK “is not a significant risk to public health because it’s at high altitude.”

Age Correspondent