Travel chaos as ash closes air space
London, England (CNN) -- European countries shut their airspace one after the other Thursday as a cloud of volcanic ash wafted over from Iceland and posed a danger to flights.
Airspace over the United Kingdom was due to be closed for six hours from midday but air authorities later extended the closure until at least 7 a.m. BST (2 a.m. EDT) Friday.
Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands also announced the closure of their air space, authorities in each country said.
Norway also closed its ocean territory and canceled helicopter flights to off-shore oil installations, according to Avinor, the Norwegian agency responsible for the Norwegian airport network.
France planned to shut eight airports in the country's north from 5 p.m. CET (11 a.m. EDT) , followed by a further 16 airports at 11 p.m. CET (5 p.m. EDT) including Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.
In all, around 3,000 flights across Europe were expected to be affected by the closures, according to Eurocontrol, the intergovernmental body that manages European air travel.
Many airports were already shut and flights were grounded across the United Kingdom on Thursday because of the ash, which came after an eruption under an Icelandic glacier early Wednesday, airport authorities said.
The ash cloud came from an eruption of a volcano beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier early Wednesday.
The eruption -- the latest in a series that began on March 20 -- blew a hole in the mass of ice and created a cloud of smoke and ash that went high into the air.
The volcano was still active Thursday, creating floods in the area and producing a lot of volcanic ash, a spokesman for Iceland's Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management told CNN.
The disruption was causing havoc for air travel around the world.
"There will be an immediate impact today in terms of passengers not being able to travel," said independent air transport consultant John Strickland, of JLS Consulting in England. "The key thing is we don't know how long it's going to last ... but even if that were to be resolved, it will take some significant time for airlines to recover."
______________________________________________________________________
ESTE MENSAJE FUE ENVIADO DESDE LA LISTA DE CORREO DE SEGURIDAD AEREA.
Para información sobre la Lista de Correo, visite la siguiente dirección: http://espanol.groups.yahoo.com/group/seguridadaerea/ o envíe un correo a la siguiente dirección: seguridadaerea-owner@gruposyahoo.com
Para suscripciones envíe un correo en blanco a:
seguridadaerea-subscribe@gruposyahoo.com
Entradas
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario