AIR CHAOS

FLIGHT restrictions have been lifted at Cork and Shannon airports after yesterday’s travel chaos caused by a gigantic plume of volcanic ash from Iceland.

Last night, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said it was “lifting restrictions, with immediate effect, on flights to and from the state airports at Cork and Shannon and some of the regional airports”.

The restrictions will remain in force at Dublin airport until, at least, 11am today.

This decision is based on the predicted path of the ash plume “which shows a move to the east and south of Ireland. This will allow transatlantic flights and internal flights to take off and land at Shannon,” Donie Mooney, director of operations, IAA, said.

He said the authority was satisfied it is safe to fly to and from the state airports and regional airports on the western coast.

“We will continue to closely monitor the weather and once it is safe to fly into the east coast we will lift the restrictions at Dublin Airport when it is deemed safe to do so. We advise anybody booked on flights [today] to check with their airlines on a regular basis,” he added.

The volcanic phenomenon grounded flights and threw the travel plans of over 50,000 people into utter chaos yesterday.

Air travel restrictions are widespread across a swathe of northern Europe “and the situation may continue for a number of days”, the Government Taskforce on Emergency Planning said after a meeting last night. The atmospheric dust cloud did not raise air quality or public health concerns, a Government spokesman said.

At midday today aviation officials will again review the crisis which could affect eastern airports throughout the day and into the weekend.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled in the state’s three main airports yesterday and the same safety shutdown was imposed on airports in Britain, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Holland and Denmark amid intensifying eruptions from the Icelandic volcano.

Hundreds of travellers stranded at Dublin airport switched to ferries sailing to Britain, while hundreds more queued at Ryanair and Aer Lingus ticket desks to re-book flights.

Irish Ferries reported their busiest day in 30 years’ service.

Coast Guard operations along the east and south-east coasts have been grounded.