Volcanic ash cloud from Iceland grounds all UK flights
MARCO FULLE / BARCROFT MEDIA LTD
Spectacular pictures taken from a helicopter at sunset on April 14, 2010 show how ash from an Icelandic volcano is severely disrupting travel plans for British air passengers
IN PICTURES: HOW THE MIGHT OF NATURE IS HALTING FLIGHTSAll non-emergency flights in and out of the UK will be grounded until 7am tomorrow at the earliest due to the volcanic ash cloud, aviation authorities said today.
Air traffic control company Nats said it would give further details at around 8pm today as to what arrangements would be in place through to 12 noon tomorrow.
The decision to close all controlled airspace in Britain has wrecked the travel plans of thousands of passengers.
Some services were able to land and take-off early today before Nats, working closely with weather forecasters, took the step to ground all flights as ash from Iceland's Mount Eyjafjalljokull volcano arrived in British airspace on north-westerly winds.
The extent of the disruption was apparent from the fact that normally about 1,300 flights and 180,000 passengers go in and out of Heathrow every day, while Gatwick Airport would normally handle 679 flights carrying 80,000 passengers.
Nats said no-one could recall a time when controlled airspace had been completely shut down in the UK.
The company defended its action, dismissing any suggestion that it had over-reacted and stressing that volcanic ash was a threat to aircraft.
Other countries were affected too. Danish airspace was being shut from 5pm UK time, while no aircraft were operating in northern Sweden or northern Finland.
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