April 16, 2010 - More Flight Chaos after Iceland Volcano Eruption
Published by Elder Brady Lee Hafen under on 8:27 PM
Since this has really effected Brady and his flight home, we decided we better cut and paste a BBC report on the volcano :)
The National Air Traffic Control Service (Nats) said earlier forecasts showed the ash cloud progressively covering the whole of the UK.
British Airways has cancelled all long and short-haul flights in and out of the UK on Sunday.
Officials warn that European airspace could be disrupted for several days.
Flight restrictions on flights in and out of the UK were extended from 1300 BST to at least 1900 BST in the early hours.
Lorna Gordon: "There's also a problem of this ash clogging the filters of cars"
Nats head of safety Paul Haskins said: "It's a very dynamic situation at the moment."
The disruption has affected hundreds of thousands of travellers since Wednesday when the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano began erupting for the second time in a month.
British wedding guests had to watch a bride and groom stranded in Dubai take their vows over an internet connection.
Sean Murtagh, 24, who is originally from west London, and his new wife Natalie, a 30-year-old Australian, were due to host a humanist ceremony for family and friends in London on Saturday but got stuck on their way back from Brisbane.
Mr Murtagh said the staff at the Millennium Airport Hotel in Dubai had become their unofficial wedding planners: "They decorated the lobby of the hotel. They made us a three tier wedding cake, set up a laptop with Skype and a projector...It's been an incredible day."
Meanwhile, one of the UK's biggest fresh fruit importers said business had ground to a halt because of the disruption.
Q&A: Volcanic ash cloud
Anthony Pile, chairman of Blue Skies, said the company was losing £100,000 a day as produce was rotting in Brazil and Africa.
"Losing a day is a disaster, losing three days is unbelievable and I don't know what we're going to do if we go into the middle of next week," he said.
A plume of ash 8.5km (5.3 miles) high was visible in Iceland on Saturday.
Prof Brian Golding, head of forecasting research at the Met Office, said it was likely the volcanic cloud would remain over the UK for several days.
Runway inspections took place during daylight for the first time at Heathrow
Royal Mail air mail deliveries to the US are being taken over land to be flown from a Spanish airport.
British Airways said it had no insurance against suspending flights and refunding customers as a result of the ash cloud, and would have to absorb the costs itself.
The Ministry of Defence said it was under the same restrictions as for commercial aircraft, except for essential helicopter operations, such as search and rescue, below 3,000ft.
In other developments:
• Eurostar added eight extra services on Saturday, but passengers are advised not to turn up without a booking
• P&O ferry crossings between Portsmouth and Bilbao are fully booked until Wednesday, as are those from Hull to Zeebrugge and Rotterdam over the weekend
• Thomson Airways, the airline for Thomson and First Choice holidays, said all outbound flights over the weekend had been cancelled
• Flights between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have been halted after reports of ash on an aircraft. They had been operating earlier on Saturday
• Ryanair cancelled all flights to and from northern Europe until 1300 BST on Monday. It will keep running in southern and central Europe, although flight restrictions are being imposed in Hungary and Romania
Unable to catch flights, many travellers across northern Europe have sought other means of transport, which has seen people filling trains, buses and ferries.
British glaciologist Dr Matthew Roberts, working at Iceland's Met Office, said the volcano was now producing less ash.
"There haven't been any further significant outbursts of volcanic ash from the eruption site," he said.
"However, there is still volcanic ash in the atmosphere and there's a lag effect between material being emitted from the volcano and the ash plume drifting into European airspace."
The National Air Traffic Control Service (Nats) said earlier forecasts showed the ash cloud progressively covering the whole of the UK.
British Airways has cancelled all long and short-haul flights in and out of the UK on Sunday.
Officials warn that European airspace could be disrupted for several days.
Flight restrictions on flights in and out of the UK were extended from 1300 BST to at least 1900 BST in the early hours.
Lorna Gordon: "There's also a problem of this ash clogging the filters of cars"
Nats head of safety Paul Haskins said: "It's a very dynamic situation at the moment."
The disruption has affected hundreds of thousands of travellers since Wednesday when the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano began erupting for the second time in a month.
British wedding guests had to watch a bride and groom stranded in Dubai take their vows over an internet connection.
Sean Murtagh, 24, who is originally from west London, and his new wife Natalie, a 30-year-old Australian, were due to host a humanist ceremony for family and friends in London on Saturday but got stuck on their way back from Brisbane.
Mr Murtagh said the staff at the Millennium Airport Hotel in Dubai had become their unofficial wedding planners: "They decorated the lobby of the hotel. They made us a three tier wedding cake, set up a laptop with Skype and a projector...It's been an incredible day."
Meanwhile, one of the UK's biggest fresh fruit importers said business had ground to a halt because of the disruption.
Q&A: Volcanic ash cloud
Anthony Pile, chairman of Blue Skies, said the company was losing £100,000 a day as produce was rotting in Brazil and Africa.
"Losing a day is a disaster, losing three days is unbelievable and I don't know what we're going to do if we go into the middle of next week," he said.
A plume of ash 8.5km (5.3 miles) high was visible in Iceland on Saturday.
Prof Brian Golding, head of forecasting research at the Met Office, said it was likely the volcanic cloud would remain over the UK for several days.
Runway inspections took place during daylight for the first time at Heathrow
Royal Mail air mail deliveries to the US are being taken over land to be flown from a Spanish airport.
British Airways said it had no insurance against suspending flights and refunding customers as a result of the ash cloud, and would have to absorb the costs itself.
The Ministry of Defence said it was under the same restrictions as for commercial aircraft, except for essential helicopter operations, such as search and rescue, below 3,000ft.
In other developments:
• Eurostar added eight extra services on Saturday, but passengers are advised not to turn up without a booking
• P&O ferry crossings between Portsmouth and Bilbao are fully booked until Wednesday, as are those from Hull to Zeebrugge and Rotterdam over the weekend
• Thomson Airways, the airline for Thomson and First Choice holidays, said all outbound flights over the weekend had been cancelled
• Flights between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have been halted after reports of ash on an aircraft. They had been operating earlier on Saturday
• Ryanair cancelled all flights to and from northern Europe until 1300 BST on Monday. It will keep running in southern and central Europe, although flight restrictions are being imposed in Hungary and Romania
Unable to catch flights, many travellers across northern Europe have sought other means of transport, which has seen people filling trains, buses and ferries.
British glaciologist Dr Matthew Roberts, working at Iceland's Met Office, said the volcano was now producing less ash.
"There haven't been any further significant outbursts of volcanic ash from the eruption site," he said.
"However, there is still volcanic ash in the atmosphere and there's a lag effect between material being emitted from the volcano and the ash plume drifting into European airspace."
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