The spread of dense ash from the erupting Iceland volcano could force the cancellation of up to 500 commercial flights in Northern Ireland, Scotland and parts of Scandinavia, the European air traffic agency said on Tuesday.
Between 200 and 250 flights had already been cancelled, said Brian Flynn, head of network operations at Eurocontrol. There are just over 30,000 flights within Europe on average every day at this time of the year.
Ash from the Grimsvotn volcano already forced US President Barack Obama to shorten a visit to Ireland, and has raised fears of a repeat of huge travel disruptions in Europe last year when ash from the Eyjafjalljokull volcano stranded millions of passengers.
The authorities say they don’t expect the kind of massive grounding of flights that followed last year’s eruption, saying procedures have been improved. The cloud is not expected to move over continental Europe.
However, British Airways suspended all its flights for Tuesday morning between London and Scotland, while Dutch carrier KLM and Easyjet cancelled flights to and from Scotland and northern England at the same time. — AP