Ash cloud to create further flights disruption

Travellers face further problems today as clouds of volcanic ash forced airports to close across Europe and flights to be cancelled.

Flights to France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Austria face disruption after a weekend which saw 700 fewer flights than normal, according to Eurocontrol which is responsible for air safety across the continent.

Flights were cancelled from airports across Ireland and the UK yesterday including Sligo, Galway, Belfast, Derry, London Stansted, Bristol, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle.

Flights to Geneva, Porto, Barcelona and Nice were among those cancelled.

A spokesman for easyJet said it expected services to France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Austria to be disrupted today.

A statement on the Gatwick website said the airport was “open for business” but warned flights could be delayed or cancelled.

An ash cloud above north-west Scotland forced the closure of Benbecula and Stornoway airports in the outer Hebrides yesterday though they later re-opened.

Barra airport, also in the outer Hebrides, was closed as it was in the no-fly zone between 7pm yesterday and 1am today.

Several separate ash clouds were lingering in the atmosphere above parts of France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Spain and Portugal.

An ash cloud hanging over the Atlantic caused westbound flights to re-route to avoid it.

A spokesman for Heathrow Airport said transatlantic services were suffering delays of up to two hours to allow time to fly around the ash cloud.

Forecaster Rachel Vince, from MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: “The volcano appears to still be erupting but there is a north-easterly wind between the UK and Iceland so the ash is being kept away from the British Isles.

“As the ash gets to a lower level it is being blown by a westerly wind towards southern Europe.”

Ryanair scheduled extra Dublin and London Stansted flights between Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Tenerife for today for passengers whose flights were cancelled yesterday.

A number of flights from the UK and Ireland were grounded on Saturday as several Spanish airports closed.

London Stansted Airport saw the cancellation of 25 Ryanair services to destinations including the Canary Islands, Spain and Portugal, along with five easyJet flights.

At Gatwick, six easyJet services were grounded while another four Ryanair flights to Alicante, Madrid and Barcelona were cancelled.