Ash affects flights in Morocco, Turkey, Spain

RABAT, Morocco — Volcanic ash from Iceland wound its way down to North Africa and curled over to Turkey on Tuesday, forcing authorities to shut down Casablanca airport in Morocco as well as airports in Spain and airspace over Turkey.

Five airports in Morocco Casablanca, Rabat-Sale, Tangiers, Tetouan and Essaouira were closed Tuesday afternoon "to guarantee a maximum level of security for passengers," the Moroccan civil aviation authorities said.

Morocco's airports were not affected last month when the April 14 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokul (pronounced ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) volcano forced at least a five-day suspension of air traffic in Europe.

The ash was also causing havoc Tuesday in nearby Spain, forcing airports to shut down in the Canary islands of Tenerife, La Palma and La Gomera, affecting dozens of tourist flights. On the Spanish mainland, airports at Seville and Jerez in the south and Badajoz in the east were closed.

Spain also kept restrictions on planes flying between 20,000 feet and 35,000 feet above the ground, mainly affecting trans-Atlantic flights to and from other European countries. Up to 20 Spanish airports, including international hub at Barcelona, had to close over the weekend because of the ash.

Flights west and southwest of Istanbul were temporarily suspended for several hours Tuesday afternoon due to the ash cloud, banned over Turkey's Thrace region west of Istanbul and the Dardanelles Strait, southwest of the city.

Istanbul's two airports remained open, but international flights from Europe were likely to be affected by the airspace suspension.

Elsewhere, the dense ash in the middle of the North Atlantic which caused severe flight disruptions over the weekend was dispersing, easing the need to reroute trans-Atlantic flights around it and cutting down on delays, the Eurocontrol air traffic control agency reported.

Approximately 29,000 flights were operating Tuesday in Europe, about normal for this time of year, according to the Brussels-based agency.

Meteorologists say until the volcano in southern Iceland stops erupting, aviation in Europe will be heavily affected by how prevailing winds distribute the ash. The last time the same volcano erupted, the action went on from 1821 to 1823.