Volcanic ash grounds airlines across Europe

All flights to the UK and several other countries from Malta International Airport were cancelled yesterday as ash from a volcano in Iceland drifted southwards forcing the closure of a good part of northern Europe's airspace.

The plume of ash disrupted air travel to all UK airports, Ireland, Scandinavia and, by the evening, also forced the closure of airports in Brussels and Paris.

Volcanic ash is very dangerous to airliners because it can cause serious damage to engines.

Travel warnings are expected to remain in force today and possibly tomorrow as the northerly winds blow the ash towards central Europe.

Hundreds of flights in the UK were cancelled in what experts described as one of the largest travel disruptions in recent times.

About 20 inbound and outbound flights at MIA were cancelled as stranded passengers queued for hours at the airport trying to make alternative arrangements with their airlines.

Air Malta said its morning flights to Heathrow and Gatwick airports were not affected but the airline cancelled later flights to and from Manchester, Birmingham, Heathrow, Gatwick and Brussels.

Some passengers who spoke to The Times were preparing for a long hard stay at the airport until the situation got back to normal but for UK national Marion Clarke the disruption would see her holiday in Gozo extended until Monday or, possibly, Tuesday.

"There is nothing much we can do. It's fine with me because we'll be returning back to our Gozo hotel," she said, smiling at the prospect of celebrating her wedding anniversary in Malta after her flight to Manchester was cancelled.

Sitting next to her, Wendy Simmons also took the disruption into her stride after the Heathrow flight she had to board was cancelled. "It's going to be a long night at the airport I suppose," she said as the prospects of returning home over the next 24 hours looked dim.

Some children watched films on a portable DVD player while a group of Swedish youngsters on a four-day break rued their luck because Swedish airspace was to close just an hour before their EasyJet flight was scheduled to land in Stockholm. They would probably be camping at the airport.

The danger of volcanic ash to airplane engines was highlighted by an engineer from Lufthansa Technik's quality assurance department.

"If volcanic ash goes through an engine the particles melt and get stuck to the internal engine parts. This disrupts the flow of gases inside the engine and can cause aircraft engines to fail," he said, adding it also caused serious damage to the aircraft surfaces such as the primary flight controls.

Professional flight instructor Captain Nigel Dunkerley said ash was close to invisible the further away it drifts from the source of the eruption.

"Although during the day ash may be slightly visible, there is no way of detecting it at night," he said, adding it had a primary impact on commercial airlines since it settled at an altitude of between 31,000 and 36,000 feet.

If an airplane was caught in a plume of ash, he said, the best option would be to do a complete turnaround and get out of the cloud immediately.

"Meteorological data is showing that the northerly winds blowing towards central Europe could last for up to 48 hours.

"The length of the disruption depends on the intensity of the volcanic eruption and the wind direction.

"This incident has the potential to disrupt Europe's flight paths monumentally for a couple of days," he said.

Capt. Dunkerley recalled an incident that happened in 1982 when a British Airways Boeing 747 flying to New Zealand was caught in a cloud of volcanic ash that shut down all engines.

For 15 minutes the airplane glided with its engines switched off as it plummeted and the captain, Eric Moody was hailed a hero after he managed to get them started averting a disaster and landing safely in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The eruption in the Eyjafjallajoekull area in Iceland is the second to occur in a month but this time it released ash to significantly greater heights.

Passengers are being advised to check with the airline or the airport before travelling.