Several UK Airports Closed, Flights Cancelled due to Volcanic Ash Cloud

A cloud of volcanic ash has disrupted air traffic across Britain forcing closure of all the UK airspace north of London, said media reports.

With disruption set to aggravate later in the day, air traffic controllers in Brussels in charge of strategic management of flights across Europe issued warnings to pilots that all UK airspace north of London was closed until further notice and London airspace would be closed from 11am until at least 7pm, said reports.

Consequently, hundreds of flights at cities of Manchester and Birmingham, as well as in Belfast in Northern Ireland and the Scottish airports at Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh were cancelled, reports said.

At London Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, at least 150 flights were canceled while another 138 flights were canceled at Britain’s second-busiest terminal of London Gatwick, said reports.

British Airways cancelled all domestic flights for the whole of today, saying that passengers whose flights were cancelled could rebook at another date or claim refund, said reports.

UK airport operator BAA said that ‘major disruption’ in air traffic is expected, while the National Air Traffic Service explained ‘volcanic ash represents a significant safety threat to aircraft’, reports said.

Ryanair said that it had cancelled all flights to and from Britain, with delays likely tomorrow, said reports.

Volcanic ash, which consists of the pulverised rock and glass created by the eruptions, can jam aircraft machinery if a plane flies through the plume, shutting down the engines.

Ash can also be sucked into the cabin itself, contaminating the passengers’ environment as well as damaging the plane’s electronic systems.

The volcano erupted on Wednesday.