UK flights grounded after volcano erupts
Thursday 15th April 2010, 3:35PM BST.
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Airline passengers faced massive disruption today as ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland led to the cancellation of all flights in and out of the until at least 7am tomorrow (Friday, April 16).
A spokesman for the Air Traffic Control Service (Nats) said the decision to ground all flights except emergencies from midday was made in accordance with international civil aviation policy.
RAF Shawbury grounded all flights at 10am and hundreds of passengers were left stranded at Birmingham International when the grounding order was issued.
Airport spokesman Daniel Scaife said the news took a while to filter through but by then most had heeded the advice to contact their airlines for information.
Weather forecasters warned the potentially dangerous cloud could take up to 36 hours to drift away.
Brendan Jones, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, said: “The ash that will come over the UK will not be a huge plume but will be diffused and will feature small ash particles.
“It will be difficult to detect and the only visible sign could be lurid sunsets that often are a feature after an eruption.
“Ash particles from eruptions can spread widely which is why Sweden and Norway could get ash.
“The ash at present is moving south east from Iceland and will probably be clear of the UK within 24 to 36 hours as long as there are no further disruptions.”
By Simon Hardy
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