Ash cloud stops flights
Source: Agencies |
May 9, 2010, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AIRPORTS were closed or due to close across northern Spain and Portugal and possibly parts of southern France yesterday because of the cloud of ash blowing south from the Eyjafjallajokul volcano in Iceland.
Spain shut 19 northern airports including Barcelona and the government said over 400 flights would be cancelled, leaving almost 40,000 people stuck in airports stretching from La Coruna in the northwest to Barcelona in the northeast.
Spain's air traffic was expected to be affected until early this morning, at which time flights would gradually resume. However, the government said there was a chance the cloud could still be affecting Spain next week.
The European air traffic agency Eurocontrol said airports were also closed or expected to close in northern Portugal and parts of southern France. "Ash eruptions are ongoing and the area of potential ash contamination is expanding in particular between the ground and 20,000 feet."
Many flights between Europe and North America were either delayed or canceled due to the cloud, it said.
Flights had to be rerouted north over Greenland or south over Spain to avoid the 2,000-kilometer-long cloud stretching from Iceland to northern Spain. "We assume that basically most of the trans-Atlantic flights will have to be rerouted on Saturday," Eurocontrol spokeswoman Kyla Evans said.
Air China said yesterday it has delayed some of its European flights due to the new Icelandic volcano eruption.
Flight CA907 from Beijing to San Paulo, which stops by Madrid, and flight CA967 from Beijing to Milan were delayed, said Air China.
Spain shut 19 northern airports including Barcelona and the government said over 400 flights would be cancelled, leaving almost 40,000 people stuck in airports stretching from La Coruna in the northwest to Barcelona in the northeast.
Spain's air traffic was expected to be affected until early this morning, at which time flights would gradually resume. However, the government said there was a chance the cloud could still be affecting Spain next week.
The European air traffic agency Eurocontrol said airports were also closed or expected to close in northern Portugal and parts of southern France. "Ash eruptions are ongoing and the area of potential ash contamination is expanding in particular between the ground and 20,000 feet."
Many flights between Europe and North America were either delayed or canceled due to the cloud, it said.
Flights had to be rerouted north over Greenland or south over Spain to avoid the 2,000-kilometer-long cloud stretching from Iceland to northern Spain. "We assume that basically most of the trans-Atlantic flights will have to be rerouted on Saturday," Eurocontrol spokeswoman Kyla Evans said.
Air China said yesterday it has delayed some of its European flights due to the new Icelandic volcano eruption.
Flight CA907 from Beijing to San Paulo, which stops by Madrid, and flight CA967 from Beijing to Milan were delayed, said Air China.
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