Good news for travellers as ash cloud threat lifts
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said it had data from 300,000 flights over the last month to refine and potentially reduce the size of no-fly zones around the plume.
“We’ve got so much data now coming in we can refine the model a lot better and better determine the borders of high concentrations of ash,” an IAA spokesman said.
Flights to and from Ireland returned to normal from midday yesterday after volcanic ash closed some airports over the weekend.
Dublin Airport was hardest hit by the return of flight bans with almost 300 flights cancelled on Sunday night and yesterday morning, affecting the travel plans of about 36,000 people.
South-westerly airflows moved in from the Atlantic, pushing much of the ash plume over Scandinavia and the weather patterns are expected to stay similar until at least Friday.
The IAA said the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland was currently spewing ash and cloud 23,000-29,000ft into the atmosphere.
Two observation flights were carried out over Ireland yesterday – one from Weston Aerodrome and the other by Lufthansa airline – to test ash levels.
Both planes were given the all clear afterwards.
The IAA said Irish airports would be open until further notice.
Meanwhile, British Airways yesterday won a High Court battle in a last-ditch attempt to avert strikes by cabin crew from today.
The airline went to court to urge a judge in London to grant an injunction blocking the strikes, due to start early today.
Mr Justice McCombe granted the order against the union, Unite. The union has said it will appeal against the injunction decision.
BA chief Willie Walsh launched a strong attack against the union, claiming that its leadership did not have any control over the running of the bitter row over pay, jobs and staffing levels.
