THERE MAY be further disruption to air travel this week as a change in wind direction brings the Icelandic volcanic ash plume back into Irish airspace.
Met Éireann says a change to north to northwesterly winds is likely to steer the ash cloud down from Iceland over Ireland. Flights in and out of western airports and transatlantic routes may be worst affected, but cancellations are also likely on services to central European destinations affected by the cloud.
“We’ll be under threat for a good part of this week as the wind direction becomes less favourable,” said forecaster Gerry Scully of Met Éireann. “There could well be interruptions to air services as a result.”
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey admitted that the continuing uncertainty caused by volcanic ash would have a negative effect on people planning to travel to Ireland and throughout Europe.
“There’s no doubt any kind of uncertainty, particularly in the tourist industry, is very very bad. Unfortunately, an act of nature means that uncertainty will continue into that future,” he said.
He suggested the positive side was that more Irish people might holiday at home. Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin is to meet tourism industry representatives today about the volcanic ash crisis.
Ms Hanafin has rejected calls from tour operators for a fund to be set up to compensate tourism businesses hit by the disruption.
Irish Aviation Authority chief executive Eamonn Brennan described the outlook for Ireland over the coming week as mixed. A change in wind direction would bring more “bad news” for air travellers but the ash emitted by the volcano was reducing in volume and had descended from 35,000 feet to 20,000 feet.
Western airports were worst affected yesterday, but all Irish airports suffered cancellations. Donegal, Sligo and Knock airports were closed at 3pm, while Galway closed at 4pm and Kerry at 10pm. Ryanair and Aer Arann cancelled flights to Derry during the day, but later services were expected to operate.
Aer Lingus cancelled some flights between Ireland and France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Croatia, while Ryanair said the main disruption was on routes to and from Italy.
The authority said Dublin, Cork and Waterford airports would operate normally until at least 1pm today, and flights would continue to arrive and depart Shannon until at least 7am. The authority said a large cloud of high ash concentration had been growing off the west coast, causing difficulties for some transatlantic services and southern European flights.
The cloud measures approximately 2,100 miles long and 1,400 miles wide, forming a crescent pattern in an arc that runs from northern Spain to northern Scotland. About 24,500 flights operated in Europe yesterday, only 500 below average for the time of year, European air traffic agency Eurocontrol said.
Germany’s air safety authority closed airspace over Munich and southern parts of the country from yesterday afternoon because of the ash cloud.
In Spain, seven airports in the north of the country were forced to close, while Austria’s air traffic authority shut terminals in Vienna, Innsbruck, Linz and Salzburg.
Airspace restrictions caused the closure of Milan’s airports as well as Pisa and Florence airports, though Venice, Trieste and Rimini remained open.
Ryanair put on extra flights for UK and Irish passengers to the Canary Islands yesterday and expects to do the same today.
However, the airline said it expected airspace over Bologna, Bergamo, Pisa, Turin and Porto to be closed or restricted, leading to possible flight cancellations.
The authority is advising passengers with travel plans over the coming days to check their airline website and the authority’s website before going to the airport.
