‘Minimal ash’ over Europe at weekend

AIR passengers hoping to travel overseas this weekend should have little trouble with the volcanic ash cloud.

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has given the all-clear for air travel until lunchtime today at least, and the British Met Office predicted there would be an “improving situation” over the weekend with only “minimal ash” over Britain and Europe.

“The movement of the ash cloud will depend on whether we see any further volcanic eruptions and how weather patterns develop,” said a British Met Office spokesman.

Experts said Iceland’s Grimsvotn volcano, which erupted last Saturday evening, is now just emitting “minor steam plumes”.

Only a handful of flights to and from Britain were cancelled yesterday as the ash moved away from Britain and northern Europe. Disrupted flights included EasyJet trips between Gatwick and Hamburg and Liverpool and Berlin.

Ryanair services into and out of the German cities of Bremen, Lubeck and Magdeburg were also affected.

The British transport secretary, Philip Hammond, met with air traffic control company Nats, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the Met Office, British Airways and EasyJet to discuss ways of minimising air travel disruption in the future.

He asked Nats and the CAA to develop ways of allowing planes to fly underneath the cloud, gaining altitude once they were clear of the ‘red zone’ of high-level ash.