Volcano ash causes more airport closure

Volcanic Ash Prompts Ireland to Close Its Airports
Updated: 5 hours 21 minutes ago

DUBLIN (May 3) — All flights in and out of Ireland have been canceled Tuesday morning because of the renewed risk of volcanic ash drifting south from Iceland, the Irish Aviation Authority announced Monday.

The authority said all flights from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. (0600GMT to 1200GMT) must be canceled because of “the safety risks to crews and passengers as a result of the drift south of the volcanic ash cloud caused by the northeasterly winds.”

The airport shutdown affects both the Republic of Ireland and the British territory of Northern Ireland, leaving the island dependent temporarily on ferry links to Britain and France.

Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority also announced a shutdown of air services over Scotland’s outermost Hebrides islands Monday night because of the risk that ash could be ingested into aircrafts’ jet engines. The shutdowns were the first in Britain and Ireland since April 22, a week after the Eyjafjallajokull (pronounced ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) volcano erupted in Iceland.

However the latest restrictions will not affect airplanes that normally use Irish or British airspace to reach other destinations, because the ash threat exists at much lower altitudes than the cruising altitudes for international flights.

The two major Irish-based airlines, Ryanair and Aer Lingus, announced more than 200 flight cancelations and said they doubted if any Irish services would resume before 2 p.m. (1300GMT). However Aer Lingus said all but one of its trans-Atlantic services to U.S. cities would operate later Tuesday, subject to delays.

Dubliners said they were already braced for potential shutdowns, and expressed relief that the disruption had not fallen on a special three-day weekend that ended Monday.

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