10 May 2010

Volcanic ash continues to disrupt air travel

9:48 am on 10 May 2010

Ash from an Icelandic volcano is now drifting across parts of France, Spain, northern Italy and Germany bringing more disruption to European air travel.

Several airports were closed on Sunday afternoon, including Munich in southern Germany. Airports at Augsburg, Memmingen and Stuttgart were also affected.

Another, higher-level ash cloud is still over the Atlantic, delaying flights between Europe and the United States as jets divert around it.

The Met Office in Britain says the ash could disrupt British airspace over the next few days.

In Italy, airports at Milan, Pisa and Florence reopened on Sunday afternoon, but many flights were delayed.

Croatia says the airports of Split and Zadar on the Adriatic coast are closed until further notice.

Ash has forced the suspension of about 20 flights at Nice airport in France.

However, Spanish airspace was returning to normal on Sunday after 19 airports in the north were closed on Saturday.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office warned there was no evidence that the eruption was about to finish.

It said on its website on Sunday that "output from the volcano has been slowly decreasing" but that "further changes in overall activity can be expected".

It concluded: "Presently there are no indications that the eruption is about to end."

Ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano shut down airspace across Europe for five days last month.