Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption
Encyclopedia
In response to concerns that volcanic ash
ejected during the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
in Iceland
would damage aircraft engine
s, the controlled airspace
of many Europe
an countries was closed to instrument flight rules
traffic, resulting in the largest air-traffic shut-down since World War II
. The closures caused millions of passengers to be stranded not only in Europe, but across the world. With large parts of European airspace closed to air traffic, many more countries were affected as flights to and from Europe were cancelled.
After an initial uninterrupted shutdown over much of northern Europe from 15 April to 23 April, airspace was closed intermittently in different parts of Europe in the following weeks, as the path of the ash cloud was tracked. The ash cloud caused further disruptions to air travel operations in Ireland
, Northern Ireland
and Scotland
on 4 and 5 May and in Spain, Portugal, northern Italy, Austria and southern Germany on 9 May. Irish and UK airspace closed again on 16 May and reopened on 17 May.
The eruption occurred beneath glacial ice
. The cold water from the melting ice chilled the lava
quickly, causing it to fragment into very small particles of glass (silica) and ash, which were carried into the eruption plume
. Due to the extremely fine nature of the ash particles and the large volume of steam produced from the glacial meltwater, an ash plume that is hazardous to aircraft was rapidly sent high into the upper atmosphere. The presence and location of the plume depended upon the state of the eruption and the winds. Because of the unusually stable, south-easterly path of the Jet Stream
, and because of the large quantity of glacial meltwater flowing into the eruption vent, this eruption became sufficiently explosive that it was able to inject its ash plume directly into the jet stream
. The ash was then carried over Europe into some of the busiest airspace in the world.
The International Air Transport Association
(IATA) estimated that the airline industry worldwide would lose a day during the disruption. IATA stated that the total loss for the airline industry was around US$1.7 billion (£1.1 billion, €1.3 billion). The Airport Operators Association (AOA) estimated that airports lost £80 million over the six-and-a-half days. Over 95,000 flights had been cancelled all across Europe during the six-day travel ban, with later figures suggesting 107,000 flights cancelled during an 8 day period, accounting for 48% of total air traffic and roughly 10 million passengers.
to the relevant civil aviation authorities
in the form of Volcanic Ash Advisories (VAA). On the basis of this, the authorities made decisions about when and where airspace should be closed due to the safety issues. Their decisions resulted in the cancellations of flights at airports across the world, not only in those countries where airspace was restricted. On 16 April 2010, 16,000 of Europe's usual 28,000 daily scheduled passenger flights were cancelled and on the 17 April, 16,000 of the usual 22,000 flights were cancelled. By 21 April 95,000 flights had been cancelled.
Prior to this, the most severe restrictions to air travel in recent times were following the attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States when all civil air traffic (not just scheduled) in US airspace, and to and from the United States, was grounded for three days.
Professor Bill McGuire of the Aon Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre said on 15 April that the most notable eruption of the Icelandic volcano Laki
which occurred in 1783, would, if it occurred today "have the potential to severely affect air travel at high northern latitudes for six months or more". The last time the Eyjafjallajökull
volcano
erupted in 1821, it spewed ash for over a year. Geophysicists in Iceland said that the production of ash from Eyjafjallajökull was likely to continue at a comparable level for some days or even weeks; a geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office said, "Where it disrupts travel depends on the weather. It depends how the wind carries the ash
".
flew through volcanic ash of Mount Galunggung, Java
, Indonesia
, causing all 4 engines to shut down. However, the pilot was able to re-start all but one of the engines and land safely. Subsequently, there was an addition to the operations manuals, describing how to deal with volcanic ash.
Iceland's authorities had been warning the airlines for several years, asking them to determine the density of ash that is safe for their jet engines.
But prior to the volcanic events of April 2010, aircraft engine manufacturers still had not defined specific particle levels above which engines were considered to be at risk. The general approach taken by airspace regulators was that if the ash concentration rose above zero, then the airspace was considered unsafe and was consequently closed.
The April eruption of Eyjafjallajökull caused enough economic difficulties that aircraft manufacturers were forced to define specific limits on how much ash is considered acceptable for a jet engine to ingest without damage. On 21 April, the CAA
in conjunction with engine manufacturers, set new guidelines which allowed aircraft to fly when there are levels of volcanic ash between 200 and 2000 microgrammes of ash per cubic metre. These levels were declared by governments, aircraft manufacturers, and airlines not to have safety implications if appropriate maintenance and ash inspection procedures were followed.
From noon 18 May, the CAA further revised the safe limit upwards to 4 mg per cubic metre of air space. Any airspace in which the ash density exceeds this limit is categorised as a no fly zone.
To minimise the level of further disruption that this and other volcanic eruptions could cause, the CAA
announced the creation of a new category of restricted airspace called a Time Limited Zone (TLZ). Airspace categorised as TLZ is similar to airspace experiencing severe weather in that the restrictions are expected to be of a short duration; however, the key difference with TLZ airspace is that airlines must produce certificates of compliance in order for their aircraft to enter these areas. Flybe
was the first airline to conform to these regulations and their aircraft will be permitted to enter airspace in which the ash density is between 2 mg and 4 mg per cubic metre.
(IFR) which requires clearance to be obtained from air traffic control
. From 14 April onwards, the controlled airspace
was closed in several European countries and no IFR clearances were granted. The airspace of Iceland itself was hardly disrupted in this period (although a change in the wind direction on 23 April caused the main airport to be closed).
By 23 April, the restrictions were lifted over much of Europe through the introduction of new guidelines on volcanic ash density. After this date there were sporadic closures from time to time, notably in the UK, Ireland and Iceland, but not a blanket shutdown.
On 16 April a 30-minute break at Manchester
allowed two flights to land, and one aircraft to be moved to Florida
, empty (as there was no time for passengers to board). At Glasgow
, an Air Transat
flight to Toronto
took off while a British Airways
flight from New York
, and a Thomas Cook
flight from Orlando
and Icelandair
flights from Keflavik
landed.
On 17 April 2010, the president of German airline Air Berlin
, in an interview with the newspaper Bild am Sonntag, stated that the risks for flights due to this volcanic haze were nonexistent, because the assessment was based only on a computer simulation produced by the VAAC. He went on to claim that the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt
closed German airspace without checking the accuracy of these simulations. Spokesmen for Lufthansa
and KLM stated that during their test flights, required by the European Union
, there were no problems with the aircraft. On the morning of 17 April Lufthansa
moved 10 aircraft from Munich
to Frankfurt
at low altitude following visual flight rules. There were no problems reported and no sign of damage to the planes. The same day, an Airbus belonging to Ural Airlines
attempted flying below the ash clouds from Moscow
to Rimini
. When the airplane was in Austrian airspace, the crew reported being low on fuel and diverted to Vienna
, where the airplane landed safely.
On the morning of 18 April KLM successfully carried out a test flight from Amsterdam
to Düsseldorf
with no problems. Afterwards, seven KLM planes with no passengers returned from Düsseldorf to Amsterdam. Air France
also performed a test flight from Paris
to Toulouse
. In the evening of 18 April German airspace was partially re-opened for a period of 3 hours allowing a plane of stranded holidaymakers from Faro
, Portugal to land at Hanover
.
The vice president of the Dutch pilots union said "We are asking the authorities to really have a good look at the situation, because 100 per cent safety does not exist," Mr. Verhagen continued. "It's easy to close down air space because then it's perfectly safe, but at some time you have to resume flights."
In the afternoon of 19 April, German carriers Lufthansa and Air Berlin obtained permission for some flights from and to German airports under Visual Flight Rules
. Lufthansa started sending planes to long-haul destination in order to return stranded passengers later that day.
Late on 19 April and early on 20 April, some flights were permitted to take off in northern Europe, including from Scotland
and northern England, but Manchester Airport, that had planned to open on 20 April, remained closed because of a new ash cloud. The Civil Aviation Authority
announced that all UK airports would be permitted to open from 2200 on 20 April. Twenty-six British Airways long-haul flights were already in the air and requesting permission to land.
By 20–21 April several airlines confirmed that "air service will be resumed in stages" and started publishing lists of selected flights that were "most likely to be operated" within one single day. "Effective Thursday, 22 April, Lufthansa will resume normal flight operations and offer you the usual reliability", claimed the airline at 15:30 on 21 April.
. Several thousand passengers were stranded in Asia
, the United States
and Australia
. Disruption was greater than that after the 11 September attacks, for example:
Stranded passengers were not necessarily given priority over new passengers for return flights. British Airways
told passengers in India and China that any free seats were being sold on the open market, and advised them to buy new tickets and seek reimbursement on return.
In addition to being stranded, some travelers also encountered issues with their visas after arriving at destinations unexpectedly:
On 17 April the UK Border Agency
announced that it would make allowances for travellers who were unable to leave the UK and whose visas had expired, provided that evidence of travel reservations during the travel disruption was presented. Belarus
, Serbia
, Finland
and Russia
also eased visa formalities for affected passengers.
and Morocco
and Turkey
to the east. Once inside Europe, many people tried to reach their final destination by train or road. People hired coaches, hire cars, and taxis whilst the train companies reported a large increase in passenger numbers. Eurostar
passenger trains were solidly booked, the Eurotunnel
car-carrying trains which run through the Channel Tunnel
were very busy, and additional services were scheduled. Travel conditions in France were compounded by an ongoing rail strike affecting long-distance trains.
Most UK and Irish ferry routes were exceptionally busy and coach operator Bus Éireann
arranged extra Eurolines
services between Ireland and England via ferry.
The websites Twitter
and Facebook
, as well as other sites like Roadsharing, were used to arrange alternative travel plans involving boats and ships, trains, and other forms of transportation such as cars, as well as to try to find rooms for the night in the cities where they were stuck. As an alternative to face-to-face business meetings, videoconferencing
was also used by the European Union, governments and companies.
Many people who had to travel, particularly those stranded while away from their home countries, faced large costs for unanticipated travel and accommodation at a time of scarcity. Some costs were covered by compensation from airlines and travel insurance, although there were many disputes over payments. Some people incurred large taxicab
fares over long distances, such as John Cleese
, who took a taxi from Oslo
to Brussels
.
On 18 April British ministers
announced a plan for flights to land and take off in Spain
, and to transport passengers by sea to the United Kingdom. On 19 April the cabinet crisis response committee (COBRA) decided that Royal Navy
ships should be utilised to repatriate
stranded British travellers, in Operation Cunningham
. HMS Ark Royal
, HMS Ocean
and HMS Albion
were deployed, but only Albion was directly involved in repatriation.
After the disruption in transatlantic flight
, the Cunard Line
said its volume of calls inquiring about booking passage on its ocean liner
RMS Queen Mary 2
by stranded air passengers wishing to cross by ship had tripled since the weekend of 16 April.
disagreed, saying that "This situation is causing them important losses, but safety is paramount".
On 15 April, five Finnish Air Force
F-18 fighter jets on exercise flew into the ash cloud in northern Finland. Volcanic dust was found on the engines of three of the aircraft and a further inspection revealed extensive damage by molten glass deposits inside the combustion chamber of one of the engines. The engines were sent for disassembly and overhaul. As a result all unnecessary military flights were cancelled except for identification flights to enforce sovereign airspace. Meanwhile a BAE Hawk
trainer with special equipment to sample the volcanic dust was being flown from the 41st squadron in Kauhava
. Even short test flights with an F-18 revealed engine damage sufficient to destroy engines.
On 19 April, NATO reported finding molten glass in the engines of at least one F-16, the result of flying through the ash cloud, leading to the scaling-down of U.S. military exercises.
Royal Air Force
flights to Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham
were grounded, and the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence considered flying British casualties of the Afghan War to coalition countries
.
On 23 April it was announced that British Royal Air Force
training flights had been suspended following volcanic ash damage to the engines of Eurofighter Typhoon
aircraft.
and the immediate creation of a crisis coordination group to handle future transport disruptions.
The ash indirectly affected many scheduled cultural and sporting events because key participants were unable to attend, including the funeral of Polish president Lech Kaczyński
in Kraków
on 18 April 2010. The funeral was to have been attended by 69 presidents, prime ministers, and other heads of states. Almost half of these, including Barack Obama
, Angela Merkel
, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
, Stephen Harper
and Nicolas Sarkozy
were unable to travel to Poland because of the disrupted air traffic.
There was also a wider impact on the economies of several countries. However there were some environmental advantages arising from a saving of around 1.3 to 2.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
Volcanic ash
Volcanic ash consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass created by volcanic eruptions, less than in diameter. There are three mechanisms of volcanic ash formation: gas release under decompression causing magmatic eruptions; thermal contraction from chilling on contact...
ejected during the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull were volcanic events at Eyjafjöll in Iceland which, although relatively small for volcanic eruptions, caused enormous disruption to air travel across western and northern Europe over an initial period of six days in April 2010. Additional localised disruption...
in Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
would damage aircraft engine
Aircraft engine
An aircraft engine is the component of the propulsion system for an aircraft that generates mechanical power. Aircraft engines are almost always either lightweight piston engines or gas turbines...
s, the controlled airspace
Controlled airspace
Controlled airspace is an aviation term used to describe airspace in which ATChas the authority to control air traffic, the level of which varies with the different classes of airspace. Controlled airspace is established mainly for three different reasons:...
of many Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an countries was closed to instrument flight rules
Instrument flight rules
Instrument flight rules are one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other are visual flight rules ....
traffic, resulting in the largest air-traffic shut-down since World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The closures caused millions of passengers to be stranded not only in Europe, but across the world. With large parts of European airspace closed to air traffic, many more countries were affected as flights to and from Europe were cancelled.
After an initial uninterrupted shutdown over much of northern Europe from 15 April to 23 April, airspace was closed intermittently in different parts of Europe in the following weeks, as the path of the ash cloud was tracked. The ash cloud caused further disruptions to air travel operations in Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
on 4 and 5 May and in Spain, Portugal, northern Italy, Austria and southern Germany on 9 May. Irish and UK airspace closed again on 16 May and reopened on 17 May.
The eruption occurred beneath glacial ice
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
. The cold water from the melting ice chilled the lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
quickly, causing it to fragment into very small particles of glass (silica) and ash, which were carried into the eruption plume
Eruption column
An eruption column consists of hot volcanic ash emitted during an explosive volcanic eruption. The ash forms a column rising many kilometres into the air above the peak of the volcano. In the most explosive eruptions, the eruption column may rise over 40 km, penetrating the stratosphere...
. Due to the extremely fine nature of the ash particles and the large volume of steam produced from the glacial meltwater, an ash plume that is hazardous to aircraft was rapidly sent high into the upper atmosphere. The presence and location of the plume depended upon the state of the eruption and the winds. Because of the unusually stable, south-easterly path of the Jet Stream
Jet stream
Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow air currents found in the atmospheres of some planets, including Earth. The main jet streams are located near the tropopause, the transition between the troposphere and the stratosphere . The major jet streams on Earth are westerly winds...
, and because of the large quantity of glacial meltwater flowing into the eruption vent, this eruption became sufficiently explosive that it was able to inject its ash plume directly into the jet stream
Jet stream
Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow air currents found in the atmospheres of some planets, including Earth. The main jet streams are located near the tropopause, the transition between the troposphere and the stratosphere . The major jet streams on Earth are westerly winds...
. The ash was then carried over Europe into some of the busiest airspace in the world.
The International Air Transport Association
International Air Transport Association
The International Air Transport Association is an international industry trade group of airlines headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where the International Civil Aviation Organization is also headquartered. The executive offices are at the Geneva Airport in SwitzerlandIATA's mission is to...
(IATA) estimated that the airline industry worldwide would lose a day during the disruption. IATA stated that the total loss for the airline industry was around US$1.7 billion (£1.1 billion, €1.3 billion). The Airport Operators Association (AOA) estimated that airports lost £80 million over the six-and-a-half days. Over 95,000 flights had been cancelled all across Europe during the six-day travel ban, with later figures suggesting 107,000 flights cancelled during an 8 day period, accounting for 48% of total air traffic and roughly 10 million passengers.
Background
The London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) was responsible for providing information about the ash plumeVolcanic ash
Volcanic ash consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass created by volcanic eruptions, less than in diameter. There are three mechanisms of volcanic ash formation: gas release under decompression causing magmatic eruptions; thermal contraction from chilling on contact...
to the relevant civil aviation authorities
Civil Aviation Authority
This is a list of national and supra-national civil aviation authorities.-See also:* Air route authority between the United States and the People's Republic of China* National Transportation Safety Board -External links:****...
in the form of Volcanic Ash Advisories (VAA). On the basis of this, the authorities made decisions about when and where airspace should be closed due to the safety issues. Their decisions resulted in the cancellations of flights at airports across the world, not only in those countries where airspace was restricted. On 16 April 2010, 16,000 of Europe's usual 28,000 daily scheduled passenger flights were cancelled and on the 17 April, 16,000 of the usual 22,000 flights were cancelled. By 21 April 95,000 flights had been cancelled.
Prior to this, the most severe restrictions to air travel in recent times were following the attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States when all civil air traffic (not just scheduled) in US airspace, and to and from the United States, was grounded for three days.
Professor Bill McGuire of the Aon Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre said on 15 April that the most notable eruption of the Icelandic volcano Laki
Laki
Łąki may refer to the following places in Poland:*Łąki, Lower Silesian Voivodeship *Łąki, West Pomeranian Voivodeship *Łąki, Lublin Voivodeship...
which occurred in 1783, would, if it occurred today "have the potential to severely affect air travel at high northern latitudes for six months or more". The last time the Eyjafjallajökull
Eyjafjallajökull
Eyjafjallajökull is one of the smaller ice caps of Iceland, situated to the north of Skógar and to the west of Mýrdalsjökull. The ice cap covers the caldera of a volcano with a summit elevation of . The volcano has erupted relatively frequently since the last glacial period, most recently in...
volcano
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
erupted in 1821, it spewed ash for over a year. Geophysicists in Iceland said that the production of ash from Eyjafjallajökull was likely to continue at a comparable level for some days or even weeks; a geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office said, "Where it disrupts travel depends on the weather. It depends how the wind carries the ash
Volcanic ash
Volcanic ash consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass created by volcanic eruptions, less than in diameter. There are three mechanisms of volcanic ash formation: gas release under decompression causing magmatic eruptions; thermal contraction from chilling on contact...
".
Jet engine tolerance to airborne particles
In 1982, the British Airways Flight 9British Airways Flight 9
British Airways Flight 9, sometimes referred to by its callsign Speedbird 9 or Jakarta incident, was a scheduled British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Auckland, with stops in Bombay, Madras, Kuala Lumpur, Perth, and Melbourne....
flew through volcanic ash of Mount Galunggung, Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, causing all 4 engines to shut down. However, the pilot was able to re-start all but one of the engines and land safely. Subsequently, there was an addition to the operations manuals, describing how to deal with volcanic ash.
Iceland's authorities had been warning the airlines for several years, asking them to determine the density of ash that is safe for their jet engines.
But prior to the volcanic events of April 2010, aircraft engine manufacturers still had not defined specific particle levels above which engines were considered to be at risk. The general approach taken by airspace regulators was that if the ash concentration rose above zero, then the airspace was considered unsafe and was consequently closed.
The April eruption of Eyjafjallajökull caused enough economic difficulties that aircraft manufacturers were forced to define specific limits on how much ash is considered acceptable for a jet engine to ingest without damage. On 21 April, the CAA
Civil Aviation Authority
This is a list of national and supra-national civil aviation authorities.-See also:* Air route authority between the United States and the People's Republic of China* National Transportation Safety Board -External links:****...
in conjunction with engine manufacturers, set new guidelines which allowed aircraft to fly when there are levels of volcanic ash between 200 and 2000 microgrammes of ash per cubic metre. These levels were declared by governments, aircraft manufacturers, and airlines not to have safety implications if appropriate maintenance and ash inspection procedures were followed.
From noon 18 May, the CAA further revised the safe limit upwards to 4 mg per cubic metre of air space. Any airspace in which the ash density exceeds this limit is categorised as a no fly zone.
To minimise the level of further disruption that this and other volcanic eruptions could cause, the CAA
Civil Aviation Authority
This is a list of national and supra-national civil aviation authorities.-See also:* Air route authority between the United States and the People's Republic of China* National Transportation Safety Board -External links:****...
announced the creation of a new category of restricted airspace called a Time Limited Zone (TLZ). Airspace categorised as TLZ is similar to airspace experiencing severe weather in that the restrictions are expected to be of a short duration; however, the key difference with TLZ airspace is that airlines must produce certificates of compliance in order for their aircraft to enter these areas. Flybe
Flybe
Flybe Group PLC is a British low-cost regional airline headquartered at the Jack Walker House at Exeter International Airport in Devon, England...
was the first airline to conform to these regulations and their aircraft will be permitted to enter airspace in which the ash density is between 2 mg and 4 mg per cubic metre.
Airspace restrictions
Under international regulations, all scheduled passenger flights operate under the instrument flight rulesInstrument flight rules
Instrument flight rules are one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other are visual flight rules ....
(IFR) which requires clearance to be obtained from air traffic control
Air traffic control
Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...
. From 14 April onwards, the controlled airspace
Controlled airspace
Controlled airspace is an aviation term used to describe airspace in which ATChas the authority to control air traffic, the level of which varies with the different classes of airspace. Controlled airspace is established mainly for three different reasons:...
was closed in several European countries and no IFR clearances were granted. The airspace of Iceland itself was hardly disrupted in this period (although a change in the wind direction on 23 April caused the main airport to be closed).
By 23 April, the restrictions were lifted over much of Europe through the introduction of new guidelines on volcanic ash density. After this date there were sporadic closures from time to time, notably in the UK, Ireland and Iceland, but not a blanket shutdown.
Within Europe
| Country | Restrictions imposed |
| On 16 April, Austro Control Austro Control Austro Control is the air navigation services provider that controls Austrian airspace. Its location and jurisdiction is Vienna, with the physical offices also being located in Vienna. Austro Control is a member of the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation .-External links:* *... ceased air activities at airports in both Vienna Vienna Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre... and Linz Linz Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about... ; Salzburg Salzburg -Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for... and Innsbruck Innsbruck - Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus... stopped flights at 18:00 UTC Coordinated Universal Time Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose... ; and Graz Graz The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students... and Klagenfurt Klagenfurt -Name:Carinthia's eminent linguists Primus Lessiak and Eberhard Kranzmayer assumed that the city's name, which literally translates as "ford of lament" or "ford of complaints", had something to do with the superstitious thought that fateful fairies or demons tend to live around treacherous waters... followed at 21:00 UTC. At 00:30 on 18 April, all Austrian airports were closed until 18:00. The Austria Press Agency reported that permission to resume takeoffs and landings took effect at 5 a.m. local time (0300 GMT) Monday but that it was unclear whether the airspace would remain open all day. |
|
| On Saturday 17 April, the airspace over Belarus was closed. | |
| Belgium's airspace closed at 14:30 UTC on 15 April. It remained closed until 06:00 UTC on Tuesday 20 April. | |
| The airspace over Bosnia and Herzegovina was closed to traffic from 08:00 (06:00 UTC) until midnight (22:00 UTC) on 17 April. | |
| On Sunday 18 April, all Bulgarian airports were closed. However, at 14:00 local time the airports in Sofia Sofia Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated... and Plovdiv Plovdiv Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe... were open. |
|
| At 02:00 CET on 17 April, the air space over northern Croatia was closed, including Zagreb Zagreb Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city... . At 08:00 CET the airports at Pula Pula Pula is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, situated at the southern tip of the Istria peninsula, with a population of 62,080 .Like the rest of the region, it is known for its mild climate, smooth sea, and unspoiled nature. The city has a long tradition of winemaking, fishing,... , Rijeka Rijeka Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants... , Zadar Zadar Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens... and Lošinj Lošinj Lošinj is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, in the Kvarner Gulf. It is almost due south of the city of Rijeka and part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county.... were closed. |
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| Naviair Naviair Naviair is a state-owned company in Denmark under the Ministry of Transport that provides air traffic service, including area control service for the Danish airspace and approach control for airports in Copenhagen, Roskilde, Aalborg, Tirstrup, Billund, Esbjerg, and Ronne. It provides flight... , the state-owned company controlling Danish airspace, announced that Denmark's airspace would close at 16:00 UTC on 15 April. However, Naviair assessed that it is safe to fly through airspace in high altitude - 35,500 feet, the equivalent to almost 11 km. This means that aircraft such as Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... to New York New York New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... can fly over Denmark. Danish airspace will be closed until 02:00 on 21 April. |
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| On 15 April Estonian Air Estonian Air AS Estonian Air is Estonia's national carrier, owned by the Estonian state. The airline is based in Tallinn, Estonia. It is a regional airline feeding into the Scandinavian Airlines System network via Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen from Estonia.... flights from Tallinn Tallinn Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list... to Oslo Oslo Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King... , Copenhagen Copenhagen Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region... and London London London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its... were cancelled due to airspace closures in Norway Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million... , Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... and the United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... . As the ash cloud spread over Estonia on the night of 16 April, all flights were cancelled due to closure of airspace in Estonia Estonia Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies... . Estonian airspace was partly opened in the evening of 19 April and completely late evening on 20 April. |
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| Finland closed its airspace at 00:00 UTC+03 on 16 April, having previously closed northern, western and central parts of its airspace. On 19 April a gap formed in the ash cloud over Finland, and Finavia Finavia Finavia Corporation , the former Finnish Civil Aviation Administration, is the managing body of 25 airports located in Finland. Finavia maintains the airport network as well as the navigation system. Finavia's customers are both the travel industry as well as air passengers... lifted flight restrictions at the airports of Helsinki-Vantaa, Turku, and Tampere-Pirkkala in the afternoon. During the five hours that Helsinki-Vantaa airport was open, there were a total of ten flights either arriving or departing. On 20 April the upper airspace was opened in 9.5 kilometres altitude to international overflights above the occurrence of the ash. On 21 April, Helsinki-Vantaa Airport's air traffic control services are open and other airport services, like terminal services, are returning to normal by 12.00 noon. The airport was closed again at 3 pm. On 22 April, Helsinki-Vantaa Airport was opened around 3 pm, and was expected to remain open at least 24 hours. |
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| At 23:00 UTC+02 on 15 April, 24 airports, including Charles De Gaulle Airport were closed. On 17 April, the Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile The Directorate General for Civil Aviation is the French civil aviation authority. It is headquartered in 15th arrondissement of Paris of Paris, 50, rue Henry-Farman. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing.The DGAC levys a civil aviation tax on... extended the suspension to 35 airports, including all Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region... airports, until 08:00 UTC+2 on Monday 19 April. On 18 April, the closure of the Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region... airports was extended to at least 08:00 UTC+2 on Tuesday 20 April. |
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| On 16 April, all international airports in Germany were closed. The complete airspace was opened again for IFR and VFR at 9:00 UTC on 21 April. | |
| Hungary's airspace was closed at 17:00 UTC on 16 April. It remained closed until 10:00 UTC on Monday 19 April. | |
| On 22 April, the Keflavik airport, which serves as the main entry point for International flights to Iceland, closed due to ash. | |
On 15 April, the Irish Aviation Authority Irish Aviation Authority The Irish Aviation Authority is a commercial semi state company employing approximately 700 people at six locations around Ireland. The IAA has two main functions; the provision of air traffic management & related services in Irish controlled airspace and the safety regulation of the civil... announced restrictions on flying in Irish airspace until on Friday 16 April at the earliest Restrictions were lifted on flights to and from Cork Cork (city) Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban... , Shannon Shannon Airport Shannon Airport, is one of the Republic of Ireland's three primary airports along with Dublin and Cork. In 2010 around 1,750,000 passengers passed through the airport, making it the third busiest airport in the Republic of Ireland after Dublin and Cork, and the fifth busiest airport on the island... and some regional airports by the day's end but restrictions remained at Dublin until . The government's emergency planning taskforce, which included several government departments, An Garda Síochána Garda Síochána , more commonly referred to as the Gardaí , is the police force of Ireland. The service is headed by the Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Government. Its headquarters are located in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.- Terminology :... , Met Éireann Met Éireann Met Éireann is the national meteorological service in Ireland, part of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.-History:... , the Irish Aviation Authority Irish Aviation Authority The Irish Aviation Authority is a commercial semi state company employing approximately 700 people at six locations around Ireland. The IAA has two main functions; the provision of air traffic management & related services in Irish controlled airspace and the safety regulation of the civil... (IAA) and Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), met on the evening of 15 April to discuss the emergency. The taskforce had met at the National Emergency Co-ordinating Centre on five further occasions by the morning of 20 April 2010. On 16 April, Irish air space was reopened for domestic flights from and westward transatlantic flights resumed from Dublin: Irish flights which were scheduled to fly eastwards over the United Kingdom and continental European airspace remained grounded. On 17 April, the ash spread to most of Ireland, and all airspace was closed until 18:00 UTC+01, and subsequently extended until 18:00 UTC+01 on Monday 19 April. On Monday 19 April, the country's aviation chief warned that Dublin was "damned" and would be shut off to the rest of the world until Friday 23 April. On Tuesday 20 April, it was reported that at least 30,000 Irish people were still stranded abroad, unable to get home. Those who were at home were opting for "staycations", as Irish holidaymakers swapped Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of... for Ballybunion Ballybunion Ballybunion or Ballybunnion is a coastal town and seaside resort in County Kerry, Ireland, from the town of Listowel. There are castle ruins near the town, although all that remains is a single wall, and two golf courses in the area including the famous Ballybunion Golf Club, a top class Links... in a boost for domestic tourism. It had been anticipated that Irish air space would re-open for limited flights from 05:00 UTC+1 on 20 April; however, the volcanic ash cloud made this impossible. It was expected that normal flights will resume from Friday, 23 April, due to the backlog of flights. Shannon Airport opened since 13:00UTC+1 on 20 April (not for departing commercial flights) but Cork Airport and Dublin Airport remained closed. On 20 April at 21:00 UTC+1 Irish airspace fully re-opened, but air travellers were advised to contact their airline. It was expected that normal flights would resume on Friday 23 April. A statement from the Irish Aviation Authority Irish Aviation Authority The Irish Aviation Authority is a commercial semi state company employing approximately 700 people at six locations around Ireland. The IAA has two main functions; the provision of air traffic management & related services in Irish controlled airspace and the safety regulation of the civil... said "[it] is expected that flights tomorrow [21 April] will focus on positioning aircraft and crews and full service by the airlines may take up to three days to recover. Passengers should consult airline websites before travelling to the airport for flights." On 4 May, Irish airspace closed from 07:00 to 13:00 UTC+1. The IAA said the decision was based on information from the Volcanic Ash Advice Centre (VAAC). The no fly zone affected Dublin, Shannon, Galway, Sligo, Ireland West (Knock), Donegal, Cork and Kerry. At 13:00 UTC+1 Irish airspace fully re-opened. However further closures and cancellations occurred the next day, on 5 May. |
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| Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione Civile closed the airspace over Northern Italy Northern Italy Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia... for 17 April, excluding emergency flights and flights flying over 35000 feet (10,668 m), from until . The closure was later extended to on Monday 19 April. Over 198 flights at the Rome Rome Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half... airports were cancelled, 436 at the Milan Milan Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,... airports, 104 at Naples Naples Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples... and 43 at Catania Catania Catania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the homonymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy.Catania is known to have a seismic history and... . |
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Kosovo closed its airspace at 00:00 UTC+02 on 18 April, cutting air access to Pristina Pristina Pristina, also spelled Prishtina and Priština is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous municipality and district.... . It was to reopen at 14:00 UTC+02 on 18 April. |
| Latvia Latvia Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden... n airspace was closed at 21:00 UTC on 15 April, cutting air access to Riga Riga Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,... and other airports of local significance. It is to remain closed until at least 06:00 UTC on 19 April, but would probably remain closed until 22 April. |
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| Luxembourg Airport was closed for virtually all flights on 16 April and remained closed at least until the evening of 18 April. | |
| Dutch airspace closed at 17:00 UTC on 15 April and remained closed until 20:00 CEST on 19 April. They will restart flights after this time, starting with 4 KLM flights to Dubai Dubai Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi... , New York New York New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... , Toronto Toronto Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from... and Shanghai Shanghai Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010... . |
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| Air travel was suspended from 14 April. Airports throughout Nord-Trøndelag Nord-Trøndelag is a county constituting the northern part of Trøndelag in Norway. As of 2010, the county had 131,555 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-least populated county. The largest municipalities are Stjørdal, Steinkjer—the county seat, Levanger, Namsos and Verdal, all with between 21,000 and... , Nordland Nordland is a county in Norway in the North Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Nord-Trøndelag in the south, Norrbottens län in Sweden to the east, Västerbottens län to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is... , Troms Troms or Romsa is a county in North Norway, bordering Finnmark to the northeast and Nordland in the southwest. To the south is Norrbotten Län in Sweden and further southeast is a shorter border with Lapland Province in Finland. To the west is the Norwegian Sea... and Finnmark Finnmark or Finnmárku is a county in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast.The county was formerly known as Finmarkens... were re-opened at times, as those areas were least affected by the ash: the largest of these, Trondheim Trondheim Airport, Værnes Trondheim Airport, Værnes is an international airport located in Stjørdal, east of Trondheim, Norway. Operated by the state-owned Avinor, it shares facilities with Værnes Air Station of the Royal Norwegian Air Force. In 2010, the airport had 3,521,734 passengers and 55,747 air movements,... , was opened for six hours on 16 April. The total closure of Norwegian airspace included the 21 search and rescue Search and rescue Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations... and medical aircraft and helicopters in the country. The health authorities stated that the challenges faced were unprecedented in modern history, and ambulances and medical personnel were moved north and out of cities to decentralise the service and replace the lost aerial transport. The air space caused most of the oil platform Oil platform An oil platform, also referred to as an offshore platform or, somewhat incorrectly, oil rig, is a lаrge structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing... s in the North Sea North Sea In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively... to not be able to fly in new personnel, causing existing crews to have to work until 18 April. |
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| Poland closed the northern part of its airspace at 18:00 UTC on 15 April. On 16 April its whole airspace was shut down. The disruption affected the funeral Death and state funeral of Lech Kaczyński and Maria Kaczyńska Lech Kaczyński, the fourth President of the Republic of Poland, died on 10 April 2010, after a Polish Air Force Tu-154 crashed outside of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 aboard... for the Polish president Lech Kaczyński Lech Kaczynski Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość... , his wife Maria Maria Kaczynska Maria Kaczyńska was the First Lady of Poland from 2005-10 as the wife of Lech Kaczyński, late President of Poland.-Early and personal life:Born as Maria Helena Mackiewicz in Machowo to Lidia and Czesław Mackiewicz. Her father fought in the Vilnius Armia Krajowa , while an uncle fought in the... and the other victims who died in an air crash 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash The 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash occurred on 10 April 2010, when a Tupolev Tu-154M aircraft of the Polish Air Force crashed near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board... earlier in April. Family members decided not to postpone the ceremony, resulting in other countries' dignitaries being unable to attend. |
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| Portugal's Institute of Meteorology (IM) announced on Tuesday April 20 that the cloud of volcanic ash entered the Portuguese airspace controlled by the Azorean island of Santa Maria, in an area still far from the national territory, and that the affected area was "very small". For the most part, only flights to countries with closed airspaces were cancelled forcing numerous members of the government (including the president) who were away to return to the country by car from the UK, Austria and Belgium. however several flights to the U.S. and elsewhere were also cancelled because of the unavailability of planes coming from other parts of Europe or carriers that required the planes to stop in their countries, such as Germany or France. | |
| Romania closed the northwestern part of its airspace at 00:00 local time (UTC+03) on 17 April, including Oradea Oradea Oradea is the capital city of Bihor County, in the Crișana region of north-western Romania. The city has a population of 204,477, according to the 2009 estimates. The wider Oradea metropolitan area has a total population of 245,832.-Geography:... , Satu Mare, Baia Mare Baia Mare Baia Mare is a municipality in northwestern Romania and the capital of Maramureş County. The city is situated about 600 kilometres from Bucharest, the capital of Romania, 70 kilometres from the border with Hungary and 50 kilometres from the border with Ukraine... , Cluj-Napoca Cluj-Napoca Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade... , Sibiu Sibiu Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt... , and Timişoara Timisoara Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the... airports. The two Bucharest Bucharest Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River.... airports were also closed. Romania's entire airspace closed at 18:00 local time (UTC+03) on 17 April until at least 12:00 on 19 April. On 20 April Timisoara, Otopeni, Băneasa, Craiova, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, Oradea, Satu Mare and Baia Mare airports reopened. |
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Air Traffic Services Agency of Serbia and Montenegro, shut down all traffic over Serbia Serbia Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans... , Montenegro Montenegro Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the... , part of international waters of the Adriatic Sea Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges... , and the upper airspace of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the... that it controls, at 14:00 UTC, 17 April. The airspace was reopened at 22:00 UTC, 18 April. |
| Slovakia's airspace was closed at 15:00 UTC on 16 April. | |
| The Transport Ministry closed the airspace to the north of the 46th parallel 46th parallel north The 46th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 46 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.... up to 35500 feet (10,820.4 m) at 22:00 UTC on 16 April, and over the entire country at 06:00 UTC on 17 April. The closure lasted until 19:10 UTC on 18 April. It was the first closure of Slovenian airspace since the Ten-Day War Ten-Day War The Ten-Day War or the Slovenian Independence War was a military conflict between the Slovenian Territorial Defence and the Yugoslav People's Army in 1991 following Slovenia's declaration of independence.-Background:... . Since 03:00 UTC on 20 April, the airspace has been closed again up to 20500 ft (6,248.4 m). Since 07:00 UTC on 21 April, the airspace has been opened again without restrictions. |
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| Aena Aena Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea , literally "Spanish Airports and Air Navigation", is the Spanish public body that owns and operates the majority of airports in Spain, with the exceptions of the private owned Ciudad Reals and Lleida-Alguaire Airport. Aena is also responsible for Air... closed seven airports in northern Spain at 20:00 UTC+1 on 17 April: they were planned to remain closed until 10:00 on 18 April, but one hour later, at 21:00 UTC+1 they started to operate again. At 08:30 UTC+1 on 18 April 11 northern airports were closed, including Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of... , the country's second largest. At 12:00 UTC+1 two more airports in the Balearic Islands Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital... were closed, including Spain's third largest Palma de Mallorca Palma de Mallorca Palma is the major city and port on the island of Majorca and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. The names Ciutat de Mallorca and Ciutat were used before the War of the Spanish Succession and are still used by people in Majorca. However, the official name... . All 13 airports were expected to reopen at 20:00 UTC+1 on 18 April. Other minor airports, not controlled by Aena, were closed as well, although it was thought they could be re-opened at 15:30 UTC+1. |
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| Sweden's airspace was closed at 20:00 UTC on 15 April. Airspace north of Söderhamn Söderhamn Söderhamn is a locality and the seat of Söderhamn Municipality, Gävleborg County, Sweden with 12,056 inhabitants in 2005.The most popular tourist attraction is Oskarsborg, a tower built in 1895 on the top of a hill close to the town centre. The tower is built as a memorial over a visit of king... was reopened at 16:45 CEST on 18 April. |
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| The Federal Office of Civil Aviation issued a notice to airmen NOTAM NOTAM or NoTAM is the quasi-acronym for a "Notice To Airmen". NOTAMs are created and transmitted by government agencies and airport operators under guidelines specified by Annex 15: Aeronautical Information Services of the Convention on International Civil Aviation... at 14:15 UTC on 16 April stating that the FIR Switzerland would be closed for visual Visual flight rules Visual flight rules are a set of regulations which allow a pilot to operate an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better than basic VFR weather minimums, as specified in the rules of the... and instrument Instrument flight rules Instrument flight rules are one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other are visual flight rules .... flight rules operations from 21:59 UTC on 16 April to 12:00 UTC on 19 April. Police, Search and Rescue (SAR) and emergency medical helicopter flights were exempted. Swiss International Air Lines Swiss International Air Lines Swiss International Air Lines AG is the principal airline of Switzerland operating scheduled services in Europe and to North America, South America, Africa and Asia. Its main hub is Zurich Airport... informed its customers on 16 April that the airports at Zurich Zürich Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich... , Basel Basel Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany... , Geneva Geneva Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland... and Lugano Lugano Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy... airports would be closed, and that all flights going to those airports would be cancelled. |
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| The Directorate General of Civil Aviation closed central-northern national air zones by 13:30 UTC (16:30 UTC+3) on 18 April between flight levels FL200 and FL350 until 09:00 UTC (12:00 UTC+3) on 19 April. All airports, however, remained open. | |
| The Ministry of Transport closed most national air zones by 00:00 UTC+3 on 17 April: only southern airports remained open. Aircraft from Egypt Egypt Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world... and Thailand Thailand Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the... , bound for Kiev Kiev Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press.... , landed at Simferopol Simferopol -Russian Empire and Civil War:The city was renamed Simferopol in 1784 after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate to the Russian Empire by Catherine II of Russia. The name Simferopol is derived from the Greek, Συμφερόπολις , translated as "the city of usefulness." In 1802, Simferopol became the... . All Ukrainian airspace was closed by 15:00 EEST on 17 April. |
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| Scotland Scotland Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the... was the third region in Europe, after Iceland and Norway, to be affected, with all Scottish airports being closed to instrument flight rules (IFR) Instrument flight rules Instrument flight rules are one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other are visual flight rules .... operations by 04:00 BST on 15 April. The United Kingdom's controlled airspace was closed to IFR flights at 11:00 UTC (12:00 BST British Summer Time Western European Summer Time is a summer daylight saving time scheme, 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used in the following places:* the Canary Islands* Portugal * Ireland... ) on 15 April. However, several Icelandair planes flying from Keflavik landed at Glasgow on 16 April. The last commercial flight to leave British airspace before the lockdown was imposed was a Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines Limited is the flag carrier airline of Singapore. Singapore Airlines operates a hub at Changi Airport and has a strong presence in the Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and "Kangaroo Route" markets... flight (number SQ317) from London Heathrow airport to Singapore Changi airport. It was officially scheduled to leave at 1155hrs BST but became airborne at 1132hrs. There was no restriction on visual flight rules Visual flight rules Visual flight rules are a set of regulations which allow a pilot to operate an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better than basic VFR weather minimums, as specified in the rules of the... traffic. Royal Air Force Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world... search and rescue aircraft RAF Search and Rescue Force The RAF Search and Rescue Force is the Royal Air Force organisation which provides around-the-clock aeronautical search and rescue cover in the United Kingdom, Cyprus and the Falkland Islands.-History:... continued to operate as normal, as did flights between Land's End Land's End Airport Land's End Airport , situated in St Just, west of Penzance, in Cornwall, is the most south westerly airport of mainland Britain. The airport is managed by Westward Airways, and is home to Isles of Scilly Skybus and MSH Flight Training.... and the Isles of Scilly which operate in uncontrolled airspace Uncontrolled airspace Uncontrolled airspace is airspace where an Air Traffic Control service is not deemed necessary or cannot be provided for practical reasons. According to the airspace classes set by ICAO both class F and class G airspace are uncontrolled... at an altitude less than 3000 feet (914.4 m). There remained no commercial airliners in British airspace until the morning of 16 April, when an Air Transat Air Transat Air Transat is an airline based in Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, operating scheduled and charter flights, serving 60 destinations in 25 countries. The airline is owned and operated by Transat A.T. Inc. During the summer season its main destinations are Europe and in the winter season the... flight was given clearance to leave Glasgow Glasgow Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands... for Toronto Toronto Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from... . On the evening of 20 April, it was announced that all the UK's airports would be opened from 22:00. On 4 May, the airspace over Northern Ireland and the west of Scotland closed from 07:00 to 13:00 UTC+1. The CAA said the decision was based on information from the Volcanic Ash Advice Centre (VAAC). The no fly zone affected both Belfast airports and Derry airport. At 13:00 UTC+1 the airspace over Northern Ireland and Scotland fully re-opened. However, further closures occurred on 5 May. On 16 May, the airspace closed over much of the UK from 13:00 until 17 May 07:00 UTC+1. The airports affected were East Midlands, Manchester, Liverpool, Doncaster, Humberside, Carlisle, Belfast, Prestwick, those on Scottish islands and the Isle of Man. London airports remained open most of that period except for a period during the early morning of 17 May. |
Outside Europe
Outside Europe one country's airspace was closed due to the risk of the ash cloud reaching its territory. However almost every country with an international airport experienced some disruption due to flights to or from Europe being cancelled.| Country | Restrictions imposed |
| Several flights scheduled to leave St. John's International Airport St. John's International Airport St. John's International Airport is an international airport located northwest of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada that serves the St. John's Metro Area and the Avalon Peninsula. The airport is part of the National Airports System, and is operated by St... in St. John's St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St... , Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400... on Monday, 19 April before 9:00 a.m., were cancelled after a forecast by Transport Canada Transport Canada Transport Canada is the department within the government of Canada which is responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities portfolio... and Nav Canada NAV CANADA Nav Canada is a privately run, not-for-profit corporation that owns and operates Canada's civil air navigation system .The company employs approximately 2,000 air traffic controllers , 800 flight service specialists and 700 technologists... gave warning of a 30% risk of volcanic ash reaching St. John's. Inbound and outbound flights were also cancelled in Gander Gander International Airport Gander International Airport is located in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and is currently run by the Gander Airport Authority. Canadian Forces Base Gander shares the airfield but is a separate entity from the airport.-Early years and prominence:... and Deer Lake. However, most cancellations and delays at St. John's were the result of heavy fog on that day. Only one flight cancellation, from Porter Airlines Porter Airlines Porter Airlines is a regional airline headquartered at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport on the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Porter operates regularly scheduled flights between Toronto and locations in Canada and the United States using Canadian-built Bombardier Dash-8 Q 400... , seems to be related to the volcanic ash warning, while Air Canada Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and largest airline of Canada. The airline, founded in 1936, provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 178 destinations worldwide. It is the world's tenth largest passenger airline by number of destinations, and the airline is a... said their flights were "subject to some delays due to inclement weather, unrelated to ash cloud." and WestJet WestJet WestJet Airlines Ltd. is a Canadian low-cost carrier that provides scheduled and charter air service to 71 destinations in Canada, the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean. Founded in 1996, WestJet is currently the second largest Canadian air carrier, behind Air Canada, operating an average of... cancelled a flight because of a maintenance problem. On Tuesday, 20 April, it was reported that two Air Canada Jazz Air Canada Jazz Jazz Aviation LP is a Canadian regional airline based at Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Enfield and Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chorus Aviation.... flights between the Magdalen Islands Magdalen Islands The Magdalen Islands form a small archipelago in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with a land area of . Though closer to Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, the islands form part of the Canadian province of Quebec.... and Quebec City Quebec City Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest... cancelled stop-offs in Gaspé Gaspé, Quebec Gaspé is a city at the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region of eastern Quebec, Canada. As of the 2006 census, the city had a total population of 14,819.... because of ash over the Gaspé Airport Gaspé Airport Gaspé Airport, or Michel Pouliot Gaspé Airport , is located west of Gaspé, Quebec, Canada. The airport is non-towered, but has a mandatory frequency linked remotely the flight service station located in Mont-Joli... . Although the UK Met Office map of 21 April shows the ash cloud reaching Labrador Labrador Labrador is the distinct, northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the mainland portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle... , Newfoundland, the Maritime provinces, far eastern Quebec Quebec Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level.... , and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, concentrations were expected to be sparse and no Canadian airspace was closed or restricted because of volcanic ash. |
Attempts to reopen airspace
Most airspace started to close from 15 April. However, in the days following there were brief windows free of the cloud at different locations which were exploited to make a few aircraft movements. There then followed test flights and pressure grew to re-evaluate the criteria for safe levels of ash to fly through.On 16 April a 30-minute break at Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
allowed two flights to land, and one aircraft to be moved to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, empty (as there was no time for passengers to board). At Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, an Air Transat
Air Transat
Air Transat is an airline based in Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, operating scheduled and charter flights, serving 60 destinations in 25 countries. The airline is owned and operated by Transat A.T. Inc. During the summer season its main destinations are Europe and in the winter season the...
flight to Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
took off while a British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
flight from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and a Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook Group
Thomas Cook Group plc is a travel company created on 19 June, 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group plc. At flotation on the London Stock Exchange 52% of the shares in the new company were held by the German mail order and department store corporation Arcandor and 48% owned by...
flight from Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
and Icelandair
Icelandair
Icelandair ehf is the flag carrier airline of Iceland, based on the grounds of Reykjavík Airport in Reykjavík. It is part of the Icelandair Group and currently operates scheduled services to 31 cities in 13 countries on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean out of its hub at Keflavík International Airport...
flights from Keflavik
Keflavík
Keflavík is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. In 2009 its population was of 8,169.In 1995 it merged with Njarðvík and Hafnir to form a municipality called Reykjanesbær with a population of 13,971 .- History :...
landed.
On 17 April 2010, the president of German airline Air Berlin
Air Berlin
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG is Germany's second largest airline, after Lufthansa, and Europe's sixth largest airline in terms of passengers....
, in an interview with the newspaper Bild am Sonntag, stated that the risks for flights due to this volcanic haze were nonexistent, because the assessment was based only on a computer simulation produced by the VAAC. He went on to claim that the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt
Luftfahrt-Bundesamt
The Luftfahrt-Bundesamt is the national civil aviation authority of Germany headquartered in Braunschweig...
closed German airspace without checking the accuracy of these simulations. Spokesmen for Lufthansa
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...
and KLM stated that during their test flights, required by the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, there were no problems with the aircraft. On the morning of 17 April Lufthansa
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...
moved 10 aircraft from Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
to Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
at low altitude following visual flight rules. There were no problems reported and no sign of damage to the planes. The same day, an Airbus belonging to Ural Airlines
Ural Airlines
Ural Airlines is an airline based in Yekaterinburg, Russia, operating scheduled and chartered domestic and international flights out of Koltsovo International Airport...
attempted flying below the ash clouds from Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
to Rimini
Rimini
Rimini is a medium-sized city of 142,579 inhabitants in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It is located on the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia and Ausa...
. When the airplane was in Austrian airspace, the crew reported being low on fuel and diverted to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, where the airplane landed safely.
On the morning of 18 April KLM successfully carried out a test flight from Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
to Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
with no problems. Afterwards, seven KLM planes with no passengers returned from Düsseldorf to Amsterdam. Air France
Air France
Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
also performed a test flight from Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
. In the evening of 18 April German airspace was partially re-opened for a period of 3 hours allowing a plane of stranded holidaymakers from Faro
Faro, Portugal
Faro is the southernmost city in Portugal. It is located in the Faro Municipality in southern Portugal. The city proper has 41,934 inhabitants and the entire municipality has 58,305. It is the seat of the Faro District and capital of the Algarve region...
, Portugal to land at Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
.
The vice president of the Dutch pilots union said "We are asking the authorities to really have a good look at the situation, because 100 per cent safety does not exist," Mr. Verhagen continued. "It's easy to close down air space because then it's perfectly safe, but at some time you have to resume flights."
In the afternoon of 19 April, German carriers Lufthansa and Air Berlin obtained permission for some flights from and to German airports under Visual Flight Rules
Visual flight rules
Visual flight rules are a set of regulations which allow a pilot to operate an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better than basic VFR weather minimums, as specified in the rules of the...
. Lufthansa started sending planes to long-haul destination in order to return stranded passengers later that day.
Late on 19 April and early on 20 April, some flights were permitted to take off in northern Europe, including from Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and northern England, but Manchester Airport, that had planned to open on 20 April, remained closed because of a new ash cloud. The Civil Aviation Authority
Civil Aviation Authority
This is a list of national and supra-national civil aviation authorities.-See also:* Air route authority between the United States and the People's Republic of China* National Transportation Safety Board -External links:****...
announced that all UK airports would be permitted to open from 2200 on 20 April. Twenty-six British Airways long-haul flights were already in the air and requesting permission to land.
By 20–21 April several airlines confirmed that "air service will be resumed in stages" and started publishing lists of selected flights that were "most likely to be operated" within one single day. "Effective Thursday, 22 April, Lufthansa will resume normal flight operations and offer you the usual reliability", claimed the airline at 15:30 on 21 April.
Stranded travelers
The closure of the airspace left five million travelers stranded around the world, of which up to a million were British according to ABTAAssociation of British Travel Agents
-History:Previously known as Association of British Travel Agents, its name was changed on 1 July 2007 to ABTA, The Travel Association to reflect its wider representation of the travel industry.On 1 July 2008 it merged with the Federation of Tour Operators ....
. Several thousand passengers were stranded in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Disruption was greater than that after the 11 September attacks, for example:
- The disruption had a significant effect on schools across the United Kingdom because it came at the end of the Easter Holidays and many pupils and teachers were among those stranded abroad.
- Swedish and Norwegian charter tourists visiting Mallorca, Canary Islands, Cyprus or Egypt were flown back to Barcelona or Athens and then onwards by bus (a total distance of ≈3400 km from Athens to Oslo by road taking two and a half days without a break).
Stranded passengers were not necessarily given priority over new passengers for return flights. British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
told passengers in India and China that any free seats were being sold on the open market, and advised them to buy new tickets and seek reimbursement on return.
In addition to being stranded, some travelers also encountered issues with their visas after arriving at destinations unexpectedly:
- At Brussels airportBrussels AirportBrussels Airport is an international airport northeast of Brussels, Belgium. The airport is partially in Zaventem and partially in the Diegem area of Machelen, both located in the Flemish Region of Belgium.Brussels Airport currently consists of 54 contact gates, and a total of 109 gates...
, 200 travelers from BangladeshBangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
were unable to leave the building without a visaVisa (document)A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
. - Passengers from KolkataKolkataKolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
headed for LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on an Air IndiaAir IndiaAir India is the flag carrier airline of India. It is part of the government of India owned Air India Limited . The airline operates a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft serving Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. Its corporate office is located at the Air India Building at Nariman...
flight were diverted to FrankfurtFrankfurtFrankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, where they were unable to leave the airport to seek accommodation because they did not have visas for Germany. - A group of passengers from the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
were facing arrest in DelhiDelhiDelhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
over a breach of immigration laws, because they left the airport without visas.
On 17 April the UK Border Agency
UK Border Agency
The UK Border Agency is the border control body of the United Kingdom government and part of the Home Office. It was formed on 1 April 2008 by a merger of the Border and Immigration Agency , UKvisas and the Detection functions of HM Revenue and Customs...
announced that it would make allowances for travellers who were unable to leave the UK and whose visas had expired, provided that evidence of travel reservations during the travel disruption was presented. Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
also eased visa formalities for affected passengers.
Alternative transport routes
Passengers destined for countries where airspace was closed had to switch to other modes of transport, possibly via airports still open in PortugalPortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
to the east. Once inside Europe, many people tried to reach their final destination by train or road. People hired coaches, hire cars, and taxis whilst the train companies reported a large increase in passenger numbers. Eurostar
Eurostar
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....
passenger trains were solidly booked, the Eurotunnel
Eurotunnel
Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. manages and operates the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France. The Company operates the car shuttle services and earns revenue on other trains passing through the tunnel...
car-carrying trains which run through the Channel Tunnel
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is deep...
were very busy, and additional services were scheduled. Travel conditions in France were compounded by an ongoing rail strike affecting long-distance trains.
Most UK and Irish ferry routes were exceptionally busy and coach operator Bus Éireann
Bus Éireann
Bus Éireann provides bus services in Ireland with the exception of those operated entirely within the Dublin Region, which are provided by Dublin Bus. Bus Éireann, established as a separate company in 1987, is a subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann. The logo of Bus Éireann incorporates a red Irish...
arranged extra Eurolines
Eurolines
Eurolines is a coach organisation, operating international bus routes within Europe and Morocco to over 500 destinations in over 25 countries. Rather than being a single company, Eurolines is a network of co-operating bus companies from all over Europe, offering integrated ticketing and extensive...
services between Ireland and England via ferry.
The websites Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
and Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, as well as other sites like Roadsharing, were used to arrange alternative travel plans involving boats and ships, trains, and other forms of transportation such as cars, as well as to try to find rooms for the night in the cities where they were stuck. As an alternative to face-to-face business meetings, videoconferencing
Videoconferencing
Videoconferencing is the conduct of a videoconference by a set of telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously...
was also used by the European Union, governments and companies.
Many people who had to travel, particularly those stranded while away from their home countries, faced large costs for unanticipated travel and accommodation at a time of scarcity. Some costs were covered by compensation from airlines and travel insurance, although there were many disputes over payments. Some people incurred large taxicab
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
fares over long distances, such as John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
, who took a taxi from Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
to Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
.
On 18 April British ministers
Government of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Government is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Government is led by the Prime Minister, who selects all the remaining Ministers...
announced a plan for flights to land and take off in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and to transport passengers by sea to the United Kingdom. On 19 April the cabinet crisis response committee (COBRA) decided that Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
ships should be utilised to repatriate
Repatriation
Repatriation is the process of returning a person back to one's place of origin or citizenship. This includes the process of returning refugees or soldiers to their place of origin following a war...
stranded British travellers, in Operation Cunningham
Operation Cunningham
Operation Cunningham was a naval operation in April 2010 by units of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom to ship British military personnel and air passengers stranded in continental Europe by the air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption...
. HMS Ark Royal
HMS Ark Royal (R07)
HMS Ark Royal is a decommissioned light aircraft carrier and former flagship of the Royal Navy. She was the third and final vessel of Invincible-class...
, HMS Ocean
HMS Ocean (L12)
HMS Ocean of the Royal Navy is an amphibious assault ship , the sole member of her class. She is designed to support amphibious landing operations and to support the staff of Commander UK Amphibious Force and Commander UK Landing Force...
and HMS Albion
HMS Albion (L14)
HMS Albion is a Landing Platform Dock of the Royal Navy, the first of the two-ship Albion class. Built by BAE Systems Marine in Barrow-in-Furness, Albion was launched in March 2001 by the Princess Royal...
were deployed, but only Albion was directly involved in repatriation.
After the disruption in transatlantic flight
Transatlantic flight
Transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean. A transatlantic flight may proceed east-to-west, originating in Europe or Africa and terminating in North America or South America, or it may go in the reverse direction, west-to-east...
, the Cunard Line
Cunard Line
Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
said its volume of calls inquiring about booking passage on its ocean liner
Ocean liner
An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...
RMS Queen Mary 2
RMS Queen Mary 2
RMS Queen Mary 2 is a transatlantic ocean liner. She was the first major ocean liner built since in 1969, the vessel she succeeded as flagship of the Cunard Line....
by stranded air passengers wishing to cross by ship had tripled since the weekend of 16 April.
Criticism of airspace closure
There was much criticism by airlines, which suffered large financial losses, of the airspace closures as unnecessary; however, the EU transport presidencyPresidency of the Council of the European Union
The Presidency of the Council of the European Union is the responsibility for the functioning of the Council of the European Union that rotates between the member states of the European Union every six months. The presidency is not a single president but rather the task is undertaken by a national...
disagreed, saying that "This situation is causing them important losses, but safety is paramount".
Military flying
Some military aircraft which flew during the period of closure suffered engine damage, although no crashes were reported.On 15 April, five Finnish Air Force
Finnish Air Force
The Finnish Air Force is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions...
F-18 fighter jets on exercise flew into the ash cloud in northern Finland. Volcanic dust was found on the engines of three of the aircraft and a further inspection revealed extensive damage by molten glass deposits inside the combustion chamber of one of the engines. The engines were sent for disassembly and overhaul. As a result all unnecessary military flights were cancelled except for identification flights to enforce sovereign airspace. Meanwhile a BAE Hawk
BAE Hawk
The BAE Systems Hawk is a British single-engine, advanced jet trainer aircraft. It first flew in 1974 as the Hawker Siddeley Hawk. The Hawk is used by the Royal Air Force, and other air forces, as either a trainer or a low-cost combat aircraft...
trainer with special equipment to sample the volcanic dust was being flown from the 41st squadron in Kauhava
Kauhava
Kauhava is a town and municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia region, northwest of Helsinki and by the main railway from Helsinki to Oulu. The town has a population of and covers an area of of which is water...
. Even short test flights with an F-18 revealed engine damage sufficient to destroy engines.
On 19 April, NATO reported finding molten glass in the engines of at least one F-16, the result of flying through the ash cloud, leading to the scaling-down of U.S. military exercises.
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
flights to Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
were grounded, and the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence considered flying British casualties of the Afghan War to coalition countries
International Security Assistance Force
The International Security Assistance Force is a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan established by the United Nations Security Council on 20 December 2001 by Resolution 1386 as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement...
.
On 23 April it was announced that British Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
training flights had been suspended following volcanic ash damage to the engines of Eurofighter Typhoon
Eurofighter Typhoon
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, canard-delta wing, multirole combat aircraft, designed and built by a consortium of three companies: EADS, Alenia Aeronautica and BAE Systems; working through a holding company, Eurofighter GmbH, which was formed in 1986...
aircraft.
Impacts of the disruption
The disruption accelerated the integration of the national air traffic control systems into the Single European SkySingle European Sky
The Single European Sky is a European Commission initiative by which the design, management and regulation of airspace will be coordinated throughout the European Union ....
and the immediate creation of a crisis coordination group to handle future transport disruptions.
The ash indirectly affected many scheduled cultural and sporting events because key participants were unable to attend, including the funeral of Polish president Lech Kaczyński
Lech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
on 18 April 2010. The funeral was to have been attended by 69 presidents, prime ministers, and other heads of states. Almost half of these, including Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...
, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...
, Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
and Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
were unable to travel to Poland because of the disrupted air traffic.
There was also a wider impact on the economies of several countries. However there were some environmental advantages arising from a saving of around 1.3 to 2.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
Ash cloud maps
The following maps depict the progress of the ash cloud during the period of disruption.See also
- Volcanic ash & air safety
- Crisis situations and protests in Europe since 2000Crisis situations and protests in Europe since 2000List of crises situations and major protests in countries of Europe since year 2000.- 2011 :*2011 England riots in August*2011 Kosovo border clashes from July onwards, involving Kosovan Police and KFOR against Kosovan Serb demonstrators*2011 E...
- 2011 eruptions of Grímsvötn
External links
- "Live: Volcanic cloud over Europe" updates on BBC News
- "The eruption that changed Iceland forever" - BBC News Magazine (Laki eruption - 1783)
- "A glance at flight disruptions due to volcanic ash" The Associated Press, 19 April 2010
- "Tracking the Cancellations" The New York Times, 15 April 2010, updated 20 April 2010
- SIGMET Europe
- Volcanic Ash Cloud Timeline (Eurocontrol)
- Volcanic Ash Advisory Graphical Forecast for the North Atlantic region
- Volcanic Ash Concentration Charts for the North Atlantic region