ASH CLOUD REACHES GERMANY

Icelandic volcanic ash blows from Britain towards Germany, forcing airports in north to close.

BANGKOK: -- The Icelandic ash cloud causing chaos for air travellers in northern Europe has blown from Britain towards Germany, forcing airports in the north of the country to close.

Weather officials said there would be no takeoffs or landings at the northern Bremen and Hamburg airports early on Wednesday due to increased levels of ash in the atmosphere.

Authorities said it may be necessary to halt all air traffic coming and going from Berlin's airports, as well as Hannover, depending on the winds.

Around 500 flights were grounded on Tuesday as ash from the Grimsvoetn volcano was carried across northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. But the ash was expected to clear from British airspace on Wednesday, air traffic control experts predicted.

"Latest information from the Met Office shows that following the recent eruption of Grimsvoetn in Iceland, no volcanic ash is currently predicted in airspace over the UK from 0100 UK time on Wednesday May 25," British air traffic control company, National Air Traffic Services (Nats), confirmed.

The ash cloud caused minor air traffic disruption in Norway and closed a small part of Denmark's airspace on Tuesday. Eurocontrol, Europe's air traffic control hub, warned there was a "strong possibility" that it would spread to southwest Sweden by Wednesday.

'Low impact'

"This would have some impact on flights. However, given the new procedures in place and the predicted movement of the ash cloud over the coming days, the actual impact on flights is expected to be relatively low," it said.

The disruption comes barely a year after a similar eruption in Iceland forced the biggest closure of European airspace in modern aviation history.

Authorities say the ash can damage planes and stop engines, but Ryanair, an Irish budget carrier, flew a plane through Scottish airspace on Tuesday and said it had detected no ash on the aircraft.

It accused British and Irish authorities of over-reacting but reluctantly cancelled its flights to and from Scotland - almost 70 in total.

British Airways conducted its own "verification" flight later on Tuesday, sending out an Airbus A320 from Manchester Airport to assess the risk over northern England and southern Scotland.

European Union transport commissioner Siim Kallas played down fears that the situation could get as bad as in 2010, when thousands of travellers from around the world were left stranded.

"We do not at this stage anticipate widespread airspace closure and prolonged disruption like we saw last year," Kallas told a news conference.

Iceland's Meteorological Office said activity at the volcano had slowed on Tuesday, and an Icelandic crisis management official said the plume of ash had fallen from its peak altitude of 20 kilometres to two kilometres on Tuesday evening.

Source: Agencies 2011-05-25

MET OFFICE:

Ash Concentration Graphics North Atlantic/Europe/Asia area 5 day outlook:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/volcano/public/rgb.html

MET OFFICE:

Ash Concentration Graphics North Atlantic/Europe/Asia area 5 day outlook:

http://www.metoffice...public/rgb.html

Actually, looking at the Met Office maps, it seems more like the ash blew from ICELAND to Germany, just brushing the extreme northeastern parts of Scotland en route.

I hope it all clears up by next Thursday. We are off to the UK for three weeks??

jb1

Britain - no stranger to getting everyone elses crap!!

BA canceled my Tuesday £180 red-eye flight out of Aberdeen at 10pm on Monday night.

BMI canceled my £263 one-way back-up red-eye flight to Heathrow at 6am on Tuesday... after I arrived at the airport! Official 'statements' suggested flights starting in the afternoon but the cleaning lady reckoned that the airport wouldn't reopen till Wednesday. Off to the station!

ScotRail suspended all trains in and out of Aberdeen at 7am... just after I had bought a £127 one-way ticket! The very high winds on Monday had wrought havoc on most rail routes and trains were all scattered between <deleted> and breakfast time.

But they reinstated the 9.50am to Kings Cross so I called Thai and had them change me from the noon flight to the evening flight. Sorted.

Pandemonium at Edinburgh Waverley as desperate flyers got onboard (Edinburgh airport closed).

Then mayhem at Newcastle as more displaced flyers (including loads that had fled Edinburgh airport as soon as the closure was announced) piled onboard. We thank East Coast for thoughtfully REMOVING a total of 3 carriages at Edinburgh and Newcastle!

However, I only lost my seat for 2 hours between Edinburgh and York when a mob of gobby Essex-types who had "paid for your seat" (and not just passage on a train) insisted on getting seated. I hadn't ridden British Rail since... well, it WAS British Rail so the concept of paying for a train ticket that DOES NOT guarantee you an actual seat was a bit of a novelty for me and an elderly American chap.

Disgorged at Kings Cross at 5.20pm... only 30 minutes late and said 'Bugger this... no more trains' and got a cab to Heathrow; for £68 ta very much!

Check-in, Fast-Track, (crappy) lounge and then upstairs at the front of the TG Jumbo bus and slept for 9 out of the 11 hours. On-time arrival at Suvarnabhumi where I had the choice of several passport desks, thus saving the Fast Track card for a worse day. In the hotel by 5pm... off to NEP for a few coldies (and hotties).

Whew! That was close.

Edited May 25, 201115 yr by NanLaew

Amazing what a bit of dust can do to cause chaos and disrupt our minuscule lives....

All we are is dust in the wind dude

Bill S Preston