LONDON—Thousands of passengers at UK airports faced delays after a cloud of ash from a volcano in Iceland drifted into British airspace.
All non-emergency flights in and out of the UK remain grounded until 7am on Friday morning, because of danger of flying into the cloud of volcanic ash.
Previously, the UK Air Traffic Control Service (NATS) had imposed the restriction only from 12pm to 6pm on Thursday.
However, officials said in a statement that the ban had been extended owing to the cloud having drifted southward.
“In line with international civil aviation policy, no flights other than agreed emergencies are currently permitted in UK controlled airspace,” the statement said.
“Following a review of the latest Met Office information, Nats advises that these restrictions will remain in place in UK-controlled airspace until 7am tomorrow at the earliest.”
The statement said that arrangements for Friday morning would be decided only after reviewing Met Office forecasts for the following day, at 8pm on Thursday.
Tiny particles and rocks from volcanic ash can lodge in an aircraft’s engines and cause damage. In 1982, a British Airways aircraft had all of its four engines shut down when it flew through a cloud of volcanic ash.
Passengers travelling from Manchester, Liverpool, Stansted, Newcastle, Southampton, Birmingham, East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, Bristol, Gatwick, Heathrow and Blackpool faced serious delays on Thursday morning.
Over 500,000 passengers fly in and out of the UK every day, on approximately 5,300 flights.
A spokesman for Britain’s Civil Avation Authority told the Daily Mail newspaper said that the fall-out from the closure could go on for days.
“It all depends which way the wind blows—literally—and whether there is another volcanic eruption,” said CAA spokesman Richard Taylor.
“It’s absolutely unprecedented. We can’t think of any incident of volcanic ash which has affected UK airspace in this way.
“It is worse than the 9-11 terror attack. That stopped transatlantic air traffic. But even then, flights to the Continent and within the UK continued.”
All non-emergency flights in and out of the UK remain grounded until 7am on Friday morning, because of danger of flying into the cloud of volcanic ash.
Previously, the UK Air Traffic Control Service (NATS) had imposed the restriction only from 12pm to 6pm on Thursday.
However, officials said in a statement that the ban had been extended owing to the cloud having drifted southward.
“In line with international civil aviation policy, no flights other than agreed emergencies are currently permitted in UK controlled airspace,” the statement said.
“Following a review of the latest Met Office information, Nats advises that these restrictions will remain in place in UK-controlled airspace until 7am tomorrow at the earliest.”
The statement said that arrangements for Friday morning would be decided only after reviewing Met Office forecasts for the following day, at 8pm on Thursday.
Tiny particles and rocks from volcanic ash can lodge in an aircraft’s engines and cause damage. In 1982, a British Airways aircraft had all of its four engines shut down when it flew through a cloud of volcanic ash.
Passengers travelling from Manchester, Liverpool, Stansted, Newcastle, Southampton, Birmingham, East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, Bristol, Gatwick, Heathrow and Blackpool faced serious delays on Thursday morning.
Over 500,000 passengers fly in and out of the UK every day, on approximately 5,300 flights.
A spokesman for Britain’s Civil Avation Authority told the Daily Mail newspaper said that the fall-out from the closure could go on for days.
“It all depends which way the wind blows—literally—and whether there is another volcanic eruption,” said CAA spokesman Richard Taylor.
“It’s absolutely unprecedented. We can’t think of any incident of volcanic ash which has affected UK airspace in this way.
“It is worse than the 9-11 terror attack. That stopped transatlantic air traffic. But even then, flights to the Continent and within the UK continued.”
