Ash cloud might disrupt voters’ plans

Some 1,000 Maltese eligible voters living abroad are wondering whether they will be able to cast their vote in Saturday’s divorce referendum as the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud continued to wreak air traffic havoc yesterday.

An Air Malta spokesman told The Times the airline was monitoring the situation closely as the fate of hundreds of European flights depended solely on the way the wind dispersed the cloud.

“Safety is our number one priority and we are working with experts in this regard,” the spokesman said.

The UK was the country from which most Maltese voters were planning to fly in for Saturday’s referendum, followed by Belgium, he said. Hundreds of Maltese living overseas have taken advantage of a €35 Air Malta offer to vote in the poll.

About 250 flights were cancelled due to the ash cloud yesterday, particularly in the UK, as the plume of volcanic ash reached Scotland and Northern Ireland. Although no Air Malta flights were affected, the same cannot be said for Ryanair, Easy Jet and Thomas Cook flights to Malta.

Ryanair’s Edinburgh flight to Malta and Easy Jet’s flight from Newcastle were cancelled because of the ash cloud forming over Scotland and Northern England following the eruption of the Grimsvötn volcano in Iceland.

The cloud also impacted a Thomas Cook flight from Glasgow to Malta which instead flew from Manchester after shuttling passengers to the airport there. The outgoing flight landed in Manchester and took the passengers to Glasgow by coach.

More flights are expected to be cancelled across Europe in the coming 48 hours as a consequence of the eruption.

According to the latest predictions given by Eurocontrol – which oversees the European airspace – Denmark is expected to be hit next and Norway may also be affected.

Predictions that the airspace in France, Germany and the Netherlands may be restricted in the coming days have so far been excluded although the EU’s Commissioner for Transport Siim Kallas admitted it would be “a challenging week” for European aviation. Briefing the EU media in Brussels yesterday on the latest developments, Mr Kallas said although all member states were on the alert, the EU was not expecting widespread blanket closures of airspace like last year when another Icelandic volcano erupted.