Flights out of Scotland cancelled as ash cloud from Iceland volcano ‘will drift over UK within hours’
A Scottish airline has cancelled 36 flights tomorrow as the ash cloud billowing from a volanco in Iceland approaches UK airspace.
Regional carrier Loganair, which flies out of Glasgow, announced that there would be no flights following a Civil Aviation Authority warning that disruption could not be ruled out.
The Met Office is predicting the plume of ash from the Grimsvotn volcano will begin to drift over parts of Scotland in the next few hours and would cover all of Ireland, Scotland and parts of northern Britain by 6am tomorrow.
Asked whether this would cause some disruption to flights, a CAA spokesman said: ‘That’s the way it’s looking certainly at the moment.’
William Hague, however, has said he does not predict the volcano will not cause the chaos seen a year ago. The Foreign Secretary has said that Britain has more information on how ash clouds move and is less likely to have to enforce a blanket flight ban.
Last April airports across the UK were shut down for five days. With school half-term holidays next week any disruption to UK airports would cause chaos for hundreds of thousands of families.
Electrical storm: Ash is hurled miles into the air by the eruption, creating thunderstorms around the volcano
Ash from the Grimsvotn volcano hanging in the sky over Iceland. The cloud has spewed 12 miles into the atmosphere
Stunning: As the volcano erupts, huge dark ash and storm clouds gather across the Icelandic skyline
Europe’s air traffic control organisation has said that if volcanic emissions continued at the same rate then the cloud might reach west French airspace and north Spain on Thursday.
Authorities have backed more relaxed rules on flying through ash after being criticised for being too strict last time.
Then, closing European air space forced the cancellation of 100,000 flights, disrupted 10 million passengers and cost the industry an estimated $1.7 billion in lost revenues.
‘I think the regulators are a bit more sensible than they were last year,’ Michael O’Leary, chief of budget airline Ryanair, told a conference call. “We would be cautiously optimistic that they won’t balls it up again this year.’
Nevertheless, airline shares fell between 3 to 5 percent.
Iceland’s airports were closed and domestic flights cancelled yesterday as a spectacular 12-mile high mushroom cloud of ash, steam and smoke filled the sky.
German Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer said he did not expect the eruption to disrupt air traffic to the same degree as last year, adding however there would be a flight ban for jet planes should particles from the ash cloud reach a higher concentration than 2 milligrammes per cubic meter.
And speaking to Sky News, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said authorities could hopefully work with airlines to ‘enable them to fly around concentrations of ash rather than having to impose a blanket closure’.
An image taken yesterday shows how far the ash cloud (reddish colour) had spread south from Grimsvotn, Iceland’s most active volcano
An image from NASA showing smoke billowing from the Grimsvotn volcano after it erupted on Saturday evening
Looking up to the darkened sky because of the ash cloud, Sunna Agustdottir, seven, carries a new-born lamb to shelter at the family farm in Longumyri, Iceland
Wearing a face mask, Anna Hardadottir, a farmer of Horgsland, leads a horse through the ash pouring out of the erupting volcano. It has spewed an ash cloud about 15 miles into the sky
A footprint outside a petrol station giving an indication of how deep the ash is and, right, a dead bird lies on Higway One near the town of Kirkjubaejarklaustur in the south-east of the country
THE NEW RULES ON AIRSPACE CLOSURES DUE TO ASH
New procedures will govern the closure of UK airspace this time.
A CAA spokesman explained that interested parties had agreed on a system whereby ash levels are graded as low, medium or high.
‘Airspace will not be closed and we will notify airlines when the Met Office predicts there are medium or high levels of ash present,’ the spokesman said.
‘If an airline has done a risk assessment as to how it will fly safely in medium or high ash levels and as liaised with aircraft manufacturers and engine makers, then they will be able to fly if the CAA considers it acceptable.’
Today, Greenland partially closed its airspace, leading to the cancelling of flights between Copenhagen and the Arctic island’s main airport.
Authorities in the UK initially said there was little chance of disruption to airspace. But as a low pressure weather system moves into Europe, there are fears north-westerly winds capable of blowing ash towards Britain will pick up.
Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday that Britain has more information on how ash clouds move and is less likely to have to enforce a blanket flight ban.
Airlines were told to brace for the possible further spread of ash later in the week. A spokesman for the Met Office, which runs the UK’s Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres, said: ‘It depends on how long the volcano continues to erupt and the weather patterns that develop.
‘If it continues to erupt, there is a risk of volcanic ash over Britain later in the week.’
The CAA said lessons had been learned from last year when fine ash from another Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, shut European airspace for a week.
The no-fly zone – imposed after fears that ash could clog up aircraft engines – cost up to £2billion and led to disruption for ten million passengers.
Airlines claimed the rules were too strict and their planes could cope with low concentrations of fine grained dust.
Chaos in the sky: Aerial view of the eruption of the volcano Grimsvotn in the south-east of Iceland which has forced shut its main international airport
An infra-red image showing the plume of smoke spreading out from south-east Iceland. The pinkish-red part shows the fallout from the eruption, the brown is normal cloud cover. Britain is braced in case it begins to drift east.
Covered from head to toe with ski goggles and face mask this farmer’s son – preparing to herd his sheep to shelter – looks like he is on the set of a science fiction film set
But a scientific study published last month by experts at the University of Iceland concluded that the levels of ash were high enough to damage engines and cause a disaster.
The new warning assumes the volcano will continue to spew ash at the same rate and there is no change in forecasts over a period of five days.
Although the latest eruption is far larger, volcano experts say its ash is far heavier and will fall to the ground more quickly.
Farmers hurry to get their sheep into shelter. The thick cloud of ash blocked out daylight at towns and villages at the foot of the glacier where the volcano lies and covered cars and buildings
How are we going to get home? Tourists leave the Islandia Hotel yesterday in Nupur as ash continue to pour out of the erupting volcano
Huge eruption: Smoke plumes from the Grimsvotn volcano create a stunning scene about 120 miles east of Rejkjavik
Ashen faced: A motorist stranded on a road near the volcano after ash from the eruption covers large swathes of land nearby
Awesome power: Keflavik airport has been closed to air passengers as of 8.30am this morning following the eruption
Sample: Ash is collected awaiting examination at the command centre in Kirkjubaejarklaustur as authorities prepare to deal with the effects of the eruption
University of Iceland geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson said: ‘There is a very large area in south-east Iceland where there is almost total darkness and heavy fall of ash.
‘But it is not spreading nearly as much. The winds are not as strong as they were in Eyjafjallajökull.’
The ash yesterday covered buildings, cars and fields in a thick layer of grey soot. Civil protection workers urged residents to wear masks and stay indoors. Keflavik airport, the country’s main transport hub, was closed.
Grimsvotn, which lies under the uninhabited Vatnajökull glacier about 120 miles east of the capital, Reykjavik, began erupting on Saturday for the first time since 2004.
When it last erupted, transatlantic flights were re-routed but no airports were shut.
A spokesman for the CAA said: ‘What matters most is the concentration. If the ash is dense then we will have to restrict flights. But the work that has been done in the last year means we know engines can cope with certain concentrations of ash. Airlines can consider flying in lower concentrations if they can provide a safety report.’
Dr Dave McGarvie, volcanologist at The Open University, said: ‘If the eruption continues with its current intensity and we get unfavourable winds, we could see ash over the UK.
‘But the past two eruptions in 1998 and 2004 from this volcano did not affect UK air travel. The amount of ash reaching the UK is likely to be less than in the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption.
‘In addition, the experience gained from the 2010 eruption – especially by the Met Office, the airline industry, and the engine manufacturers – should mean less disruption to travellers.’
British Airways last night said it was monitoring the situation closely but did not expect it to have any effect on flights over the next 24 hours.
Last year: Southern Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull glacier sent ash into the air in April last year bringing Europe to a virtual standstill
Stranded: The last Icelandic eruption left holidaymakers stranded all over Europe
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