Volcanic ash closes some UK airspace
5th May 2010
London, England (CNN) -- Britain's Civil Aviation Authority announced that some airspace over Northern Ireland and Scotland would be closed Wednesday because ash emissions from Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull grew heavier and dipped further south.
Scottish airports in Glasgow, Prestwick, Inverness, Stornoway, Benbecula, Tiree, Islay, Barra and Campbeltown will close at 7 a.m. GMT (3 a.m. ET), along with the airport in Derry, Northern Ireland, the CAA said.
The Inverness airport will reopen at 1 p.m. GMT (9 a.m. ET), but Belfast City and Belfast International Airports will close at that time. All the airports are expected to reopen at 7 p.m. GMT (3 p.m. ET).
The CAA said that airports in Edinburgh and Carlisle, Scotland, and Blackpool, Liverpool and Manchester in England were expected to remain open. Ash is expected to be near those airports, however, and the authority recommended that passengers check with their airlines before arriving at the airport.
The Irish Aviation Authority had grounded all flights into and out of Ireland between 6 a.m. GMT and 12 p.m. GMT (2 a.m. and 8 a.m. ET) Tuesday because of ash.
European aviation officials closed airports across the continent for six days last month because of an ash cloud from the erupting Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland.
The disruption to flights Tuesday came, as European Union transport ministers met in Brussels to discuss ways of improving coordination between member states in the event of another volcanic ash crisis.
Ministers agreed to work on a series of measure to improve future cooperation, according to a press release.
These include working towards establishing a "single European regulator for a single European sky" and working with national authorities to draw up guidance to ensure uniform application of rules for passengers.
EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said: "Let's be clear about one thing. This is going to continue to happen. It might be next week. It might be in 20 years. But it will happen again; and volcanoes do not obey rules. So we need to be faster and more flexible in our response." .
