Airports to stay open all day

In the latest update from the Irish Aviation Authority, Irish airports are to remain open until at least 1am tomorrow morning, following on from some disruption yesterday.

A change in wind direction is carrying the ash cloud away from Irish airspace today and all airports are operating as normal.

The large volcanic ash cloud, which currently measures approximately 2,000 miles long and 1,400 miles wide, is still positioned over the atlantic from Greenland to the Iberian peninsula.

It will continue to cause difficulty for some trans-Atlantic operations and operations into some areas of southern Europe.

IAA spokesperson Kevin Humphries is warning that changing winds may blow the ash cloud nearer to Ireland later in the week.

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.

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.

Passengers planning to travel by air over the coming days are advised to regularly check their airline websites and the IAA website in advance of going to the airport.