More travel misery as volcanic ash keeps everyone guessing

About 160 passengers sat in a plane for two hours yesterday after their flight to Amsterdam was delayed by almost six hours because of volcanic ash that caused disruptions across Europe.

Air Malta had to cancel its morning flights to and from London's busiest airports, with 500 passengers booked, after Heathrow and Gatwick were closed for six hours overnight because of the ash cloud from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano.

Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair cancelled its flights to and from Dublin and Easyjet did not operate its flights to Gatwick and Manchester. On Sunday, Ryanair also cancelled flights to Leeds while Easyjet rerouted its Manchester flights to Gatwick.

Some 1,000 flights across Europe were cancelled yesterday, Eurocontrol, the intergovernmental agency coordinating air traffic control, said.

Passengers on Air Malta's flight to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport experienced a surreal morning not knowing whether or not they would make it to their destination.

One passenger said she arrived at the airport early in the morning to find out she would have to wait for information about her flight, scheduled to leave just after 8 a.m.

"It was eerie because all the check-in lines were empty," she said. Just before 9 a.m. passengers were told the flight to Amsterdam would be leaving at 11.30 a.m. and they were allowed to check in. "We got on the plane and were waiting and waiting, until we were told we had lost the slot."

Soon afterwards, the passengers were told that Schiphol Airport had been closed, then that the plane would try to land in Brussels and get passengers to Amsterdam by land.

"Then we were told that we would not be going anywhere. Every time we heard the announcement bell, we did not know what to expect," she said.

In a final announcement, the passengers were told the plane would be leaving for Amsterdam and the engines were switched on for the third time.

"We did not want to believe it until we were in the air," she said.

But despite the delay, passengers were not complaining. "Everyone was resigned to the situation," she said, adding that the crew did everything in their power to keep the passengers comfortable.

"Airline food never tasted so good because we were all starving."

The national airline was planning to operate an extra flight to London yesterday afternoon apart from its two scheduled flights to Heathrow and Gatwick to accommodate passengers booked on the cancelled morning flights. Although the extra flight had to be cancelled because no slot was available, a spokesman said all passengers who wanted to fly were rerouted or put on scheduled flights.

She said things were constantly changing and there was no way to forecast how flights would be affected in the coming days.

Transport Malta said the ash cloud was expected to persist over Ireland while parts could move over Scotland and others towards southwest England.

Meanwhile, the planned visit to St Edward's College by world famous teen super spy author Anthony Horowitz has been cancelled due to the volcanic ash cloud that has disrupted a number of flights.

Mr Horowitz was due to give writing workshops to senior school and sixth form students of English today and tomorrow. He was also expected to meet members of the media.