Thousands face volcanic ash cloud flight cancellations

Thousands of passengers face UK flight cancellations because of drifting ash from an Icelandic volcanic eruption.

Airports likely to be affected from 1300 to 1900 BST include Londonderry, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Prestwick, Durham Tees Valley, Newcastle and Carlisle, air traffic services company Nats said.

European air traffic controllers said 252 flights had been cancelled so far.

However Ryanair said it had made a test flight over Scotland and challenged a ruling some flights should be grounded.

The carrier said its 90-minute flight at 41,000ft showed there was "no visible volcanic ash cloud or evidence of ash on the airframe, wings or engines".

Ryanair, which is continuing to check in passengers at Edinburgh, has submitted a safety case to the Irish Aviation Authority to fly from Scotland on Tuesday afternoon. A decision is not expected to be made until at least about 1600 BST.

Meanwhile a Ryanair flight from Edinburgh to Marrakech is due to take off at about 1500 BST.

Ryanair says the "red zone" over Scottish airspace where ash has been classified "high-density" was invented by the Met Office and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Chief executive Michael O'Leary said: "We've got written confirmation from the engine and our airframe manufacturers that we're safe to fly even within these red zones.

"And yet yesterday, the combination of bureaucratic incompetence between the Met office, with these nonsensical charts, and the CAA closed the skies over Glasgow."

But a CAA spokesperson said: "The CAA can confirm that at no time did a Ryanair flight enter the notified area of high contamination ash over Scotland this morning."

The UK's emergency response committee, Cobra, is meeting at 1530 BST to discuss the knock-on effects of the ash cloud.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, who will lead the talks, said although there would be widespread disruption for Scottish airports, it was unlikely to last long.

He told the BBC he expected Edinburgh and Glasgow airports to be clear by Tuesday afternoon, and northern Scottish airports by Wednesday morning.

"At the moment the model suggests that disruption later in the week is likely to be limited, but of course the weather patterns are changing all the time," he said.

The Met Office said the ash had reached northern Scotland and would spread across much of the UK by the end of the day.

But forecasters said changing wind patterns make it hard to predict its exact path and concentrations would vary between regions.

Minor air traffic disruptions were also reported in Norway and a small part of Denmark.

The following airlines have announced cancellations:

• British Airways will not operate any flights to and from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle until 1900 BST
• KLM cancelled flights to and from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Newcastle as well as from Durham Tees Valley Airport
• Aer Lingus cancelled 12 flights to and from Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh
• Flybe cancelled 11 flights to and from Scotland
• BMI said flights to and from Aberdeen were subject to delay but services in and out of Glasgow and Edinburgh were unaffected
• Glasgow-based Loganair has cancelled 38 flights. Only inter-island routes in Orkney are unaffected
• Eastern Airways will not be operating any services in or out of Scottish airspace
• Easyjet has cancelled flights to and from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen and Newcastle until 1900 BST

The cancellations come just over a year after another volcanic eruption in Iceland caused widespread disruption across Europe, including the closure of UK airspace, amid concerns about the damage volcanic ash could cause to engine aircraft.

This year, in the UK, the decision on whether to fly or not in ash cloud conditions is down to individual airlines, although they have to apply to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for final approval.

The CAA said procedures were "totally different" compared with last year and although no airlines had applied to fly in high-density ash, some had applied for, and been given, permission to fly in medium ash.

The Grimsvotn volcano in Vatnajokull National Park began erupting on Saturday and closed Iceland's airspace for a period.

Experts say the eruption is on a different scale to the one last year and ash particles are larger and, as a result, fall to the ground more quickly.

Frances Tuke, from travel industry body Abta, urged passengers to contact their airlines, which he said had legal obligations to their customers.

He said passengers could have a claim under European "denied boarding" regulations.

These state that if a flight is cancelled or delayed for more than five hours, passengers are entitled to be either re-routed, given a replacement flight, or a refund.

Since last year, the CAA has graded ash levels as low, medium or high, and airlines are notified if levels reach medium or high.

All British aircraft can fly in medium-density ash but the airlines need to consider whether to fly, according to risk assessments.

source : bbc.co.uk