Volcanic ash cloud from Iceland grounds all UK flights
MARCO FULLE / BARCROFT MEDIA LTD
Spectacular pictures taken from a helicopter at sunset on April 14, 2010 show how ash from an Icelandic volcano is severely disrupting travel plans for British air passengers
IN PICTURES: HOW THE MIGHT OF NATURE IS HALTING FLIGHTSAll non-emergency flights were grounded in the UK from noon today as ash from Iceland's volcanic eruption caused travel chaos.
The disruption, which also hit Irish and north European airspace, left thousands of travellers stranded at home and abroad.
National Air Traffic Services said all flights in UK airspace were grounded from noon to 6pm at the earliest.
A Nats spokesman said: "From midday today until at least 6pm, there will be no flights permitted in UK controlled airspace other than emergency situations.
"This has been applied in accordance with international civil aviation policy.
"We continue to monitor the situation with the Met Office and work closely with airline customers and adjoining countries."
Hundreds of flights across the UK were already cancelled and airports in Scotland closed indefinitely.
A Heathrow spokesman said: "We strongly advise passengers intending to fly from this time (12pm) not to travel to the airport today.
"We will provide further updates as we get more information from air traffic control provider Nats."
About 1,300 flights and 180,000 passengers go in and out of Heathrow every day.
Gatwick had been due to host 679 flights carrying 80,000 passengers.
At Stansted about 50 members of the Great Britain Ice Hockey Supporters Club heading for the world championships in Slovenia were stranded.
A spokesman said the Essex airport would normally have handled 264 flights from noon until the end of the day today.
He went on: "Fortunately a lot of the holiday flights leave quite early in the morning and all these got away OK.
"The disruption is likely to go on into tomorrow. The worry is that this could effect people returning home from their Easter holidays."
Rochelle Turner, head of research for Which? Holiday magazine, said: "This is yet more bad news for air passengers in a year that has already seen much disruption to flights.
"Affected passengers are being offered a choice of a full refund or transfer on to another flight. But, airlines don't have to compensate passengers for loss of any additional elements to holidays, such as accommodation and car hire.
"It may be possible to claim for these additional elements on your travel insurance, but passengers will need to check their individual policies."
The East Coast rail company said it was extending its 6.30pm London to Newcastle service through to Edinburgh.
Travel organisation Abta said it was working closely with the relevant authorities and airlines to ensure its members were kept informed of the most up-to-date information.
An Abta spokeswoman went on: "Passengers travelling imminently are advised to liaise with their travel provider or airline for the latest information in relation to their travel plans.
"Some airlines and tour operators have posted statements on their websites and this information will be updated on a regular basis until the situation returns to normal. At this stage no timescales have been indicated."
Budget airline Ryanair said that from 9am, no further flights were operating to or from the UK.
Ryanair cancelled all flights to and from Ireland from 10am and all flights to and from Norway, Sweden and Denmark from 11.30am.
Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in south-west Iceland after a volcanic eruption yesterday at Eyjafjalljokull, which is part of the Mount Katla range.
If volcanic ash particles are ingested into a jet engine, they accumulate and clog the engines with molten glass.
Forecasters believe the ash could take a number of days to disperse.
Matt Dobson, a forecaster for MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "The concern is that as well as the eruption, the jet stream passing through Iceland is passing in a south easterly direction, which will bring ash to the north of Scotland and Denmark and Norway. But it is impossible to say how much ash will come down.
"It could be a threat in these areas from now until tomorrow or Friday."
Christine Campbell, 55, from Garelochhead, Argyll, who works at Faslane naval base, got to Glasgow Airport at 5.30am for a flight at 6.45am as she was travelling to La Rochelle in France for her son's wedding. She was travelling with her daughter.
She said: "When we arrived we were told there were no flights going out today and to go home. But I wanted to come and wait anyway because I didn't want to miss anything.
"I'm really disappointed and upset because I've been looking forward to this wedding for two years and at the last minute there's this hiccup."
She was planning to try to get a train to London and then travel to France by Eurostar.
Ann Cochrane, 58, a market researcher originally from Beith in Ayrshire, was trying to get home to Toronto where she now lives.
She said: "I think I might cry. I just wish I was on a beach in Mexico. We took a cab at 7.30am this morning and they told us about what was going on and said we should go home.
"It's not so bad for us because we're only down the road so we will just hire a car for another day, but other people live hours away."
The volcanic ash scare also caused Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable to cancel planned General Election campaign visits to Dunfermline and Edinburgh.
Members of the health committee at the Northern Ireland Assembly were among the passengers turned back at Belfast City.
They were due to catch a flight to Leeds on their way to meetings in Bradford and Manchester with child protection staff in advance of introducing new safety measures next year.
Tory leader David Cameron, on the election campaign trail in Halifax, said it was a "very worrying" situation.
"It is very worrying news. Our first thoughts must be with the emergency services who will have lot of work to do, and with all those who were planning to travel for work or holidays who have been grounded or delayed and whose arrangements have been thrown into such a difficult situation," he said.
"It does look a very worrying and difficult situation and obviously we have got to do everything we can to ease the burden on people."
Glasgow Airport managing director Amanda McMillan said it was a "highly unusual" situation.
She said the airport was closed at midnight by air traffic control officials and a crisis management team had worked through the night to try to minimise travel chaos.
The airport usually sees more than 15,000 passengers pass through on 200 flights a day.
The financial impact on the Scottish air industry could run into "hundreds of thousands" of pounds, Ms McMillan said.
As the airport emptied of any lingering passengers, she said: "The situation as it stands hasn't changed since early this morning.
"The commercial airspace over Scotland has closed and the consequences are that the airport at Glasgow is severely affected and has closed.
"It has had a severe impact in Glasgow today. Passengers should not consider travelling without contacting their airline first."
She said it would be "difficult to predict" how long the disruption would last, but said the crisis management team was working on resolving the problems caused by the ash.
She added: "There are a lot of people here who have worked here for many years but this is not something that anyone at the airport has seen before. It's not something we can look in our history box and see it with prior experience."
Ms McMillan also praised passengers who had seen their holiday plans thrown into chaos for their patience and perseverance.
"Glaswegians are renowned for their character and their spirit," she said.
Glasgow Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire was also closed until further notice.
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