Volcanic ash brings new flight restrictions

Air passengers faced further misery today as volcanic ash forced restrictions in Irish airspace once again.

Flights to and from Irish airports are to be grounded after increased activity from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull produced denser ash emissions higher into the atmosphere.

Aviation chiefs said Donegal airport would be restricted from 8am until further notice, followed by Sligo at 9am and Dublin and Ireland West (Knock) at 11am.

Cork, Waterford and Kerry airports are unlikely to be affected until after 2pm.

No restrictions will apply to Shannon or Galway until further notice.

The Irish Aviation Authority said a further update will be issued mid-morning.

All passengers have been advised to contact their airline.

The IAA announced the renewed restrictions around midnight. Scores of passengers turned up at Dublin Airport this morning unaware their flights were cancelled.

Aer Lingus said it is to cancel flights to destinations across Europe, including Rome, Milan, Warsaw, Vienna, Naples, UK, Paris and Portugal.

Customers were advised to expect further cancellations throughout the day.

“Aer Lingus sincerely regrets the disruption that this air space closure causes for our customers and would like to reassure its customers that they are doing everything possible to minimise the negative effects on them,” the airline said.

Ryanair said that because of the closure of UK air space all flights in and out of Belfast, Derry, Edinburgh and Glasgow Prestwick have been cancelled until at least 2pm.

It said all flights hit by the restrictions at Irish airports have been cancelled.

In a statement on its website the airline said: “Passengers scheduled to travel outside of these restricted times should monitor this page for up-to-date information which will be posted as soon as it becomes available.”

Dublin Airport Authority said 450 flights are due to land and take off today, with 165 before 11am.

Spokeswoman Siobhan Moore said people had not heard of the restrictions and turned up at the airport.

“Many have come to the airport in the expectation that their flight were going to go after 11am, not having heard that restrictions are in place,” she said.

“Not the airlines fault or anybody’s fault, it‘s just the evolving situation that we find ourselves in. We‘re all trying to manage in a difficult situation.”

Passengers in the North were told last night that all flights were to be grounded this morning from 7am.

But a change in circumstances overnight saw some flights cleared for take-off early this morning, though it was expected that the narrow window of opportunity would close again by the afternoon.

Travellers and even some airlines were left confused by the arrangements, however, and many who might have travelled this morning failed to do so.

While City of Derry Airport is to be closed all day, the International Airport and Belfast City Airport could be open until 2pm, but travel plans have nevertheless been disrupted.

“It is another frustrating day for passengers,” said Deborah Harris from the International Airport.

“The situation did change overnight, some of the airlines have cancelled flights effective from 7am. We have a lot of cancellations this morning and we probably will do throughout the day.”

The chief executive of Belfast City Airport, Brian Ambrose, warned the situation is changing quickly as weather conditions affect the drift of the volcanic ash cloud.

“We are running into difficulties because airlines expected air space to be closed, now it’s been reopened and they are trying to get crews in place to operate this morning, so we have a very restricted programme and it is literally changing by the minute,” he told BBC Radio Ulster.