Tens of thousands of holidaymakers and travellers are facing travel chaos today as ash from an Icelandic volcano paralysed British airports.Hundreds of flights have been cancelled around the UK and Europe and a number of British airports have closed. All London airports are due to close from 12pm. Airports that are still open have suffered major disruption.
The disruption is likely to be particularly bad as thousands of travellers are due to fly back to Britain this weekend at the end of the Easter break. The situation was prompted after by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland yesterday for the second time in a month, spewing massive clouds of ash thousands of feet into the sky.
Scientists said the eruption, under a glacier, was 10 to 20 times more powerful than the previous one. The volcano erupted on March 20 after almost 200 years of silence.
The ash in the atmosphere closed Scottish airspace this morning and forced Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle airports to close. Liverpool, Manchester, Stansted, Birmingham, East Midlands, Bristol, Luton, Gatwick and Heathrow are all affected.
Matt Dobson, a forecaster for MeteoGroup, said ash would come down in Scotland, Denmark and Norway and could continue to affect airspace until Friday.
It cannot be seen from the ground as it blowing across Britain around three miles in the sky.
Ash can disrupt the engines of an aircraft and reduce visibility as well as affecting landing and navigation gear. (Daily Mail)
