Airports set to reopen as flight restrictions eased

IRISH AIRPORTS that were closed yesterday due to an increase in density of the volcanic ash cloud were set to reopen this morning following the latest advice from the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in London and Eurocontrol.

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) last night said it planned to lift the flight restrictions imposed on Dublin, Waterford, Donegal and Cork airports from 4am.

It plans to allow Sligo airport to resume operations from 6am; Galway, Knock and Shannon airports from 8am; and Kerry from 9am.

The current ash cloud is moving south-westwards and restrictions will be lifted according to its progress, the IAA said last night.

Overflights of Irish airspace between North America and Europe are due to continue as normal.

Ryanair last night said it expected to operate all flights to and from Dublin, Cork, Knock and UK airports on schedule today.

Ryanair flights operating in and out of Shannon have been cancelled until 10am and Kerry flights until 8.50am. The airline has added extra flights to between Ireland and the UK today.

However, the company said passengers should continue to monitor ryanair.com for updated flight information.

Aer Lingus said it planned to operate its full transatlantic schedule from Ireland to the US today, as well as the majority of its short-haul services.

The airline has also advised passengers to consult its website, aerlingus.com.

The Government Taskforce on Emergency Planning is to meet this morning to discuss the continuing impact of the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud on Irish aviation.

This will be the first meeting of the taskforce this week, despite the IAA having announced on Monday that it had to again close Irish airspace, following a six-day closure last month.

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey yesterday decided to reconvene the taskforce – which includes representatives of the Department of Transport, the IAA, Met Éireann, the Environmental Protection Agency and several other Government departments and agencies – for the first time since it was stood down on April 27th.

While flight restrictions are due to ease today and further large-scale flight bans are not expected over the weekend, the northwesterly winds, which pushed the ash cloud back over Ireland this week, are due to return next week, Met Éireann has said.

Despite the increases in the density of the ash cloud over the last 36 hours, northeasterly winds should keep the volcanic ash away from Irish airspace for the coming days, Met Éireann forecaster Pat Clarke said.

“For the following few days, the wind is in our favour from the point of view of blowing the ash out of our airspace.”

He said it was difficult to say what time today the air over Ireland would be completely clear of the ash cloud, but it appeared there would be a growing improvement as the day progressed.

“While the timing . . . isn’t absolutely pinned down, from the afternoon and into the night and on into Friday and the following days, things should be much improved.”

Any further eruptions from Eyjafjallajökull causing greater concentrations of ash in the atmosphere should not adversely affect Irish airspace for the next few days, he said.