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NI flights cancelled as ash cloud approaches | NI flights cancelled as ash cloud approaches |
(about 1 hour later) | |
A number of flights to and from Northern Ireland have been grounded because of the Icelandic ash cloud. | |
The majority of href="/news/uk-northern-ireland-13530439" title="Ground NI flights - at a glance" >affected flights are to and from airports in Scotland and north-east England. | |
Two flights to and from City of Derry Airport and Dublin have also been cancelled. | |
Earlier, UK Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said that Northern Ireland airspace could be most severely affected on Friday. | |
Forecasters have said changing wind patterns made it hard to predict the cloud's exact path and concentrations would vary between regions. | |
Belfast International Airport, Belfast City Airport and City of Derry Airport are advising passengers to contact their airline before leaving home. | |
Despite later cancelling its flights, the Irish carrier Ryanair claimed it had made a test flight through ash over Scotland and challenged a ruling some flights should be grounded. | |
Ryanair said its 90-minute flight at 41,000ft showed there was "no visible volcanic ash cloud or evidence of ash on the airframe, wings or engines". | |
Ryanair said the "red zone" over Scottish airspace where ash has been classified "high-density" was invented by the href="http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/" >Met Office and the href="http://www.caa.co.uk/" >Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). | |
But a CAA spokesperson said: "The CAA can confirm that at no time did a Ryanair flight enter the notified area of high contamination ash over Scotland this morning." | |
BBC transport correspondent Richard Scott said the CAA confirmed Ryanair were being, at best, "misleading". | |
The cancellations come just over a year after another volcanic eruption in Iceland caused widespread disruption across Europe, including the closure of UK airspace, amid concerns about the damage volcanic ash could cause to engine aircraft. | |
This year, in the UK, the decision on whether to fly or not in ash cloud conditions is down to individual airlines subject to aviation authority approval. | |
The CAA said procedures were "totally different" to last year and although no airlines had applied to fly in high-density ash, some had applied for, and been given, permission to fly in medium ash. | |
The Grimsvotn volcano in Vatnajokull National Park began erupting on Saturday and closed Iceland's airspace for a period. | |
Experts say the eruption is on a different scale to the one last year and ash particles are larger and, as a result, fall to the ground more quickly. | |