Volcanic ash grounds 1,000 flights

Passengers wait with their luggage Monday at Belfast City Airport, in Northern Ireland. Photo: AFP

Volcanic ash from Iceland caused widespread disruption at airports in Britain and other parts of northern Europe Monday, grounding 1,000 flights and delaying hundreds of thousands of passengers, aviation officials said.

Eurocontrol, the European air traffic agency, said Britain and the Netherlands were the worst-affected areas, although the agency expected the situation to improve, Reuters reported.

"During the course of the day, the current cloud is expected to disperse," the agency said in a statement. "Delays will also be experienced by flights due to congestion in airspace adjacent to closed areas."

Britain's air traffic control agency Monday eased a no-fly zone that disrupted flights at London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports. The two biggest British airports reopened after an overnight shutdown, but passengers were warned to expect long delays and cancellations throughout the day.

British aviation officials said restrictions would remain in place over Northern Ireland and the Shetland Isles, north of Scotland.

Airports in Ireland and the Netherlands were also closed over fears that the drifting ash could damage jet engines and bring down aircraft.

British Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said aviation officials and aircraft makers were considering whether to allow planes to fly through higher densities of ash.

British flights face further disruption today when British Airways cabin crews are due to strike in a long-running dispute over pay and working practices.

Separately, Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano has emitted 250 million cubic meters of tephra (ash and other fragmental material), Icelandic geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson told AFP.

The eruption, which began April 14, has peaked three times, he said. "In the first four days of the eruption, then on May 5 and 6, and again last Friday."

"There is really no way of telling when it will stop. There has been quite a bit of earthquake activity underneath Eyjafjallajoekull, which means that magma is still emerging," Gudmundsson said.

Agencies