Air Malta said today it has been forced to cancel today’s flights to Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin and Dusseldorf due to the airport closure because of a volcanic ash cloud currently extending from from Iceland, to the UK, Scandinavia and moving down to central Europe.

Air Malta said in a statement that due to this cloud, parts of European airspace were shut down affecting airlines that operated through these parts.

Several airspace restrictions were announced this morning, forcing the airline to cancel flights.

Subject to the lifting of these restrictions, Air Malta would be operating a number of extra flights over and above its schedule, the airline said.

Yesterday’s Air Malta’s morning flights to Heathrow and Gatwick operated normally. However the airline had to cancel 26 flights to and from Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Heathrow, Gatwick, Brussels, Frankfurt and Moscow Sheremetyevo in the afternoon.

It operated 25 flights; from Malta to Athens, Budapest, Reggio-Rome, Milan, Catania – Munich – Catania, Munich, Vienna, Zurich, Tripoli and Rome – Reggio Calabria. Air Malta’s flight to Palermo this evening is expected to operate normally.

Air Malta said it was closely monitoring the situation and would advise its passengers of any changes in its flight operations as a result of these airspace restrictions on www.airmalta.com.

It offered passengers free re-booking on any Air Malta operated scheduled flight or full refund of ticket.

For re-booking or re-routing, one can call 356 2166 2211. The call centre will remain open until midnight and will open again for 5 a.m.

Due to this situation, clients due to travel from Malta International Airport are advised to contact flight enquiries, tel: 5004 3333 for further information and to confirm flight arrival/departure times.

A number of flights by other airlines were also cancelled.