Volcanic ash cloud resumes, 15 airports closed down in Spain
Vueling flight from Barcelona to Malta rerouted
Fifteen airports in Spain, including Barcelona, have been closed because of the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano, Spain’s airport and air traffic authority Aena announced yesterday.
The volcanic ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland is continuing to cause flight disruptions in European airspace as flights to and from some UK and Irish airports could be about to face more disruption, forecasters said.
Renewed activity in the volcano sent ash up to heights of 20,000 to 30,000 feet earlier this week. Northerly winds over the UK could take ash back over Ireland and western Scotland tomorrow or later in the week.
An Iberia/Vueling Barcelona-Malta flight was among the hundreds of flights from Spain that were cancelled.
Air Malta said its operations are not being directly affected as the airline’s flights are being rerouted so as to stay clear from any restricted airspace, and operating as per normal schedule.
“The situation is a rapidly changing one. Air Malta is closely monitoring the airspace and will advise its passengers of any changes in its flight operations as a result of any airspace restrictions on www.airmalta.com,” a spokesperson said.
Approximately 25,000 flights were expected to cross European skies today, well down from more than 30,000 on Friday. The reduction of available airspace is also impacting flights arriving in or departing from the Iberian peninsula and delays could be expected, Eurocontrol said.
Forecaster Victoria Kettley from MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: “We’re seeing more of a northerly wind from tomorrow in Scotland and over the rest of the UK on Monday and Tuesday.
“It looks as if Ireland and western Scotland could be affected. The wind is northerly rather than north westerly so it will not bring the ash right across the UK.
“If it was to go north westerly it would bring it across the rest of the UK but at the moment we’re looking at more northerly winds.”
On Wednesday an area of low pressure over Iceland is expected to take the ash away from the UK.
Met Office forecaster Andy Bodenham said that the higher level ash cloud was currently over the Atlantic. Lower level ash is over Spain and moving towards the south of France, but is expected to disperse over the next few days.
The ash plume has already caused travel disruption for thousands of passengers over the past three weeks.
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