Ash cloud from Iceland eruption grounds flights

Thursday, April 15, 2010
LONDON (AFP) - – Hundreds of flights from Britain, Norway and Sweden were grounded Thursday due to an ash cloud from a volcano eruption in Iceland, air operators said.
More than 250 flights to and from London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports were grounded on Thursday by volcanic ash from the eruption, airport operators said.
Many of the cancelled flights -- more than 150 to and from Heathrow, and 108 flights to and from Gatwick -- were transatlantic services, while Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports in Scotland were shut altogether.
Airport operator BAA said: "Following advice from the Met Office, the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) has introduced restrictions to UK airspace this morning as a result of volcanic ash drifting across the United Kingdom from Iceland."
The restrictions were introduced because volcanic ash can damage aircraft engines.
Flights across nearly all of Norway and northern Sweden were also halted, authorities said.
Iceland's second volcano eruption in less than a month began under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in the south of the country at around 1:00 am (GMT) Wednesday.
Between 700 and 800 people were evacuated from their homes in the remote, lightly populated area 125 kilometres (75 miles) east of Reykjavik, as melted glacier water caused massive flooding.
Last month, the first volcano eruption at the Eyjafjallajokull glacier since 1823 -- and Iceland's first since 2004 -- briefly forced 600 people from their homes in the same area.
During the eruption on March 21, all Iceland flights were briefly cancelled, but on Wednesday only one local airport near the eruption site had been closed, according to the Icelandic Airport Authority.
Authority spokeswoman Hjordis Gudmundsdottir told AFP that the wind was blowing ash from the eruption toward Norway and not towards the capital, allowing the main airport to remain open.