Millions of passengers faced fresh flight chaos today as a string of airports across the UK were closed because of yet more volcanic ash blowing in from Iceland. A no-fly zone was first put in place above parts of Northern Ireland this morning as the 'high density' cloud from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano approached. And now the Civil Aviation Authority has extended the closures, with Manchester, Liverpool, East Midlands and Prestwich, all to shut from 1pm today.
Britain’s busiest airports - including Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted - could also be affected over the next three days. The alert is bad news for passengers hoping the skies were getting back to normal a month after ash first halted UK flights. And it has prompted the union threatening British Airways with strikes to 'seriously' consider calling off its first walkout - due to start on Tuesday - because of the ash.
Tony Woodley, Unite's joint general secretary, said: 'You would have to be stupid to want to ground planes that are going nowhere in the first place.' British Airways said it plans to run all flights today but has been advised there may be disruption from 6pm tonight. The air traffic authority Nats said last night: 'A high density volcanic ash cloud is rapidly encroaching on Northern Ireland. 'As a result, a no-fly zone has been imposed by the Civil Aviation Authority in airspace over parts of Northern Ireland. (Daily Mail)
