Ash cloud affects Scottish flights
24.05.11
As families prepare for the half-term getaway, passengers flying to or from Scottish airports today face severe disruption after drifting ash from an Icelandic volcano caused delays and cancellations. Thousands of passengers have been affected after airlines suspended services in and out of Scotland, with ash forecast until at least 19:00 this evening. As the situation is 'very fluid', passengers have been advised to contact their airlines to check the status of their flight before setting off for the airport.
Aberdeen Airport said it expected to be out of the high density ash area from 13:00 and it hopes to resume operations then, however: ‘There will be residual delays and cancellations throughout the day as it takes time for operations to recover,’ an airport spokesman said.
Glasgow Airport expects significant disruption today, as high concentrations of ash are expected to enter its airspace between 13:00 and 19:00. Some passengers are being taken to Manchester by bus, with some airlines not operating flights too the airport over concerns that they might not be able to fly out again.
Edinburgh Airport said that although the high density ash would not be overhead until later in the day, flights were already being disrupted this morning. Highlands and Islands Airports said all morning flights to and from Inverness had been cancelled with disruption also affecting many of island airports.
In addition, a number of airlines are choosing not to fly through Scottish airspace on Tuesday. These include BA, KLM, easyJet, Ryanair, BMI and Eastern Airways. The ash cloud is expected to reach other parts of the UK later this week, but the Met Office said changing wind patterns made it difficult to predict whether the ash cloud will spread.
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