Icelandic volcano ash threatens Germany, Norway, Sweden

Icelandic volcano ash threatens Germany, Norway, Sweden

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Icelandic volcano ash cloud causing chaos for air travelers was Wednesday, May 25, set to blow from Britain towards Germany, forcing airports in the north of the country to close.

Around 500 flights were grounded Tuesday as ash from the Grimsvoetn volcano swept across northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but was to clear from British airspace early Wednesday, air traffic control experts predicted.

Meanwhile, German air safety officials announced that no flights would land or take off from Bremen Airport after 5:00 am Wednesday and Hamburg Airport after 6:00 am as the cloud drifted towards continental Europe.

The disruption comes barely a year after a similar eruption in Iceland forced the biggest closure of European airspace since World War II.

British Airways led the way in canceling flights as the plume spread eastwards, followed by Dutch airline KLM, Ireland's Aer Lingus and budget airlines easyJet and Ryanair.

"Approximately 500 flights were cancelled from the approximately 29,000 that would have been expected today across Europe," said a statement from Brussels-based air traffic controllers Eurocontrol.

The ash cloud caused minor air traffic disruption in Norway and closed a small part of Denmark's airspace on Tuesday, and Eurocontrol warned there was a "strong possibility" that it would spread to southwest Sweden by Wednesday, AFP reported.

Spokesperson for Armenia International Airports CJSC Gevorg Abrahamyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter Tuesday that the ash has not affected the flights conducted from Zvartnots airport yet. “Not a flight has been delayed. We do not face problems caused by the eruption of Grimsvoetn,” Abrahamyan said.

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