Passengers stuck as volcanic ash spreads across Europe

REYKJAVIK/BERLIN/LONDON - Tens of thousands of passengers remain stuck at European airports as ash from an erupting volcano in Iceland causes flight disruptions and airport closures across the continent.

Airport authorities in Germany predicted the ash from the volcano under the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier, which is spreading to the east and south-east, would affect air traffic for days.

British air traffic control said Friday morning that aircraft would have to remain grounded until 1800 GMT. The situation has not improved, they said.

“Following a review of the latest Met Office information, NATS advises that restrictions will remain in place in UK controlled airspace until 1900 (British time) today, Friday April 16, at the earliest,” the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said in a statement on its website.

Individual flights between Northern Ireland and some Scottish airports, as well as transatlantic flights from and to the airports of Glasgow, Prestwick and Belfast could be possible on a case-by-case basis in the early afternoon, the authority added.

Eurocontrol, the European flight control authority, predicted disruptions in Germany and Poland for Friday.

Furthermore, more than half of the scheduled 600 transatlantic flights are likely to be cancelled.

Air traffic was at a complete standstill in Scandinavia with no planes flying in Denmark, Norway, Finland or Sweden.

A spokeswoman for Sweden’s air traffic control said the ban on flying would remain in force for the whole day. A change in the winds bringing the ash from Iceland was not in sight, she said.

Norwegian authorities warned the population to take care as no air ambulances or rescue helicopters could fly. In the sparsely populated northern part of the country air transport is widely used in moving the sick and injured.

Large parts of German airspace were closed to traffic. Flights were halted at the airports in Berlin, Hamburg, Duesseldorf, Hanover, Bremen, Muenster/Osnabrueck and Cologne/Bonn.

A spokeswoman for German air traffic control, Kristine Kelek, said the airspace above the seven cities would remain closed until 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) when a new decision would be made.

Thousands of flights were cancelled across Europe Thursday, as Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden closed down their airspace.

In France, authorities closed down the Paris airports of Charles-de-Gaulle and Orly at 11 p.m. (2100 GMT). Some 23 airports across the country are to remain closed until at least Friday 2 p.m., they said. Meanwhile airports in southern Ireland reopened late

Thursday.

The volcano continued to spew ash and smoke skywards overnight with no sign of letup in the days ahead, officials said in Reykjavik.

According to the foreign ministry, experts said the risk of ongoing volcanic activity for the upcoming days was high, noting that the “the force of the volcanic eruption under the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier appears to be steady”.