Eurocontrol: Impact of volcanic ash to continue until at least Sunday afternoon
April 17th, 2010 - 5:20 pm ICT by BNO News
BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) — European air traffic officials on Saturday said the cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland will continue to impact flights across northern and central Europe until at least Sunday afternoon.
EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, said that no landings and takeoffs for civilian aircraft are allowed in most of northern and central Europe. It estimated that some 16,000 flights would be cancelled on Saturday.
Currently, airspace is closed in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Northern France, most of Germany, Hungary, Ireland, northern Italy, the Netherlands, southern Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. “In some of these areas the upper airspace has been made available, depending on the observed and forecasted area of ash contamination,” the organization said. “However, it is difficult to access this airspace as in most cases the surrounding area is not available for flights.”
Southern Europe, including Spain, the southern Balkan area, southern Italy, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey remain open and flights are taking place in these areas.
EUROCONTROL said it expects some 6,000 flights to take place in European airspace on Saturday, against 22,000 normally. It said 18,600 flights were cancelled on Friday.
Forecasts suggest that the cloud of volcanic ash will persist and EUROCONTROL expects that the impact to flights will continue for at least the next 24 hours, which is Sunday afternoon.
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- Ash spreads south as Europe air shutdown causes havoc - Apr 18, 2010
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- RAW -- EUROCONTROL: European air traffic situation update at 18.30 CET - Apr 21, 2010
- Air traffic returns to normal in Europe after volcano ash crisis - Apr 23, 2010
- RAW - Eurocontrol statement on European air traffic situation - May 08, 2010
- Eurocontrol: Approximately 1,000 flights to be cancelled on Monday due to volcanic ash cloud - May 17, 2010
- Europe cancels 250 flights over volcanic ash (Lead) - May 24, 2011
- Clouds thinning, airspaces opening, says Eurocontrol - Apr 19, 2010
- Eurocontrol says about 500 European flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud on Monday - May 10, 2010
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Tags: air navigation, air traffic, airspace, balkan area, bno, central europe, civilian aircraft, czech republic, european organisation, germany hungary, landings, northern france, northern italy, southern europe, southern italy, southern norway, sunday afternoon, takeoffs, traffic officials, volcanic ash