Volcanic Cloud Affecting British, Irish Airspace

The main cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano caused minor disruptions around Scandinavia on Monday while a second, smaller plume stretched south toward the coasts of Scotland and Ireland.

European officials warned that ash from the Grimsvotn (GREEMSH-votn) volcano could affect the airspace over western Scotland and Ireland starting Monday but it was not immediately clear how many flights, if any, would be disrupted.

U.K. Transport Secretary Phillip Hammond said some airports may close for a short time if there is a high density of ash nearby. Some long-distance flights could be delayed if airlines have to divert their routes away from Iceland, he added.

Neither plume was projected to reach the European mainland and an Icelandic meteorological official said the eruption already appeared to be getting smaller.

The April 2010 eruption of another Icelandic volcano prompted aviation officials to close Europe’s airspace for five days out of fear that the ash could harm jet engines. Thousands of flights were grounded, airlines lost millions of dollars and millions of travelers were stranded, many sleeping on airport floors across northern Europe.

Iceland shut its main airport after Grimsvotn, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) east of Reykjavik, erupted Saturday. The airport remained closed Monday morning, but officials hoped to reopen it later in the day.

Danish air traffic officials said the main ash plume had reached eastern Greenland and Air Greenland said its Monday flight between the island’s main airport and Copenhagen was canceled as a result.

Aviation officials in Norway said the cloud might also affect flights to and from the Arctic islands of Svalbard on Monday.

Thierry Mariani, France’s transport minister, said it was too early to tell whether air travel over Europe would be affected by the volcanic eruption in Iceland.

Mariani told Europe 1 radio that the composition of the cloud will be examined in the coming days and if the ash is found to be harmful to airplanes, countries may take a joint decision to close part of Europe’s airspace.

“The priority must always remain to ensure security,” he said.

Hammond told the BBC that Britain had equipment in Iceland analyzing the ash as it comes out of the volcano, and equipment in the UK that analyses the density of the ash.

He said that this year airlines are able to seek permission to fly through low and medium densities of ash if their aircraft are designed to do so.

“We won’t see a blanket closing of airspace,” he said.

The plume was drifting at a height of 6,000 to 10,000 meters (20,000 to 33,000 feet), the normal altitudes for passenger airliners, down from a maximum height of 50,000 feet Sunday, said Steinunn Jakobsdottir, a geophysicist at the Icelandic Met Office.