FAA says Iceland’s volcanic ash cloud halting, delaying some flights from US to Europe

Volcanic ash cloud disrupting US flights to Europe

WASHINGTON — The bottom fell out of travel plans for thousands of U.S. airline passengers Thursday as dozens of flights between the U.S. and Europe were canceled, part of a global disruption in air travel as clouds of ash from a volcano in Iceland forced widespread closures of European airports.

At least 100 U.S. flights had been canceled by early Thursday afternoon Eastern Daylight Time, according to David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transportation Association, which represents most major U.S. carriers.

Most of the canceled U.S. flights were to the United Kingdom or from there, he said. Some airlines were also canceling flights scheduled for Friday, he said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency was working with airlines to reroute flights from the U.S. to Europe around the cloud when possible. Some flights en route were also returned to the U.S. late Wednesday and early Thursday or diverted from their intended destination to other Europe airports as closures mounted.

Volcanic eruptions rarely interrupt commercial air travel, but some large ash clouds high in the atmosphere have the potential to stall or shut down jet engines.

Airports in Britain, Ireland and Nordic countries were closed first. By late Thursday morning France had closed 23 airports, including Paris airports.

But flights to other destinations are also affected. Brown said the route for most flights from the U.S. East Coast to Europe crosses the North Atlantic near the ash cloud.

A spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates New York’s three metro area airports, would not comment on flights and the impact of the air space closure on individual airlines.

The route between New York and London is the second busiest in the world, behind the route between Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Tyrone Lowery, the front desk supervisor at the 360-room International JFK Airport Hotel in New York, said more than 150 guests had been affected by the flight cancellations.

“So far they’re taking it,” he said. “Some of them are disappointed.”

He said most had booked one-night stays.

The European airport closings triggered a wave of calls to Garber Travel, one of New England’s biggest travel agencies. The Boston-based company said it started receiving calls into its 24-hour hotline late Wednesday and early Thursday.

“It’s minute by minute, because I think it will be a domino effect across Europe and I’m not sure how many airports it will affect over time,” said Nancy Greenfield, Garber’s director of leisure sales.

Massport CEO Thomas Kinton said cancellations Thursday at Logan International Airport in Boston included two British Airways flights to and from airport authority board that “the situation is fluid and more outbound flights may cancel.”

British Airways spokesman John Lampl said the airline had several flights out of the U.S. bound for Heathrow that were returned to their departure cities or forced to land elsewhere when London airports were closed. That includes flights from Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, Las Vegas and New York. Some passengers were being put up in hotels.

Some flights made it out of the U.S. late last night, but more were being canceled Thursday morning.

“This will domino into every airline,” Lampl said. “Everybody’s in the same boat.”

American Airlines canceled 21 flights that were scheduled to arrive at or depart from London after U.K. authorities closed the airspace, said airline spokesman Tim Smith. He said American was able to make six takeoffs and nine arrivals at Heathrow before the shutdown.

Smith said American flights to other points in Europe were not affected as of Thursday morning, Central time. He said passengers on the canceled U.K. flights were booked on later trips or given a refund.

Continental Airlines said it had canceled 32 flights by 10:30 a.m. Central time, mostly ones leaving from the airline’s hub in Newark, N.J., plus a few from Houston.

Continental said it would let customers scheduled on flights through Sunday to about a dozen European destinations alter their plans without the usual change fee, or get a refund.

At the British Airways Terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport, William Phelps and family told a local radio station that they had decided to stay longer in New York after their flight to London’s Heathrow Airport was canceled.

“It’s the simplest thing for us,” he said. As for his children, he said they were fine with the change in plans. “They love New York, so that’s OK.”

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AP Transportation Writer Samantha Bomkamp and AP writers Cristian Salazar in New York and Glen Johnson in Boston, and AP Airlines Writer David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.