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NI flights cancelled as ash cloud approaches NI flights cancelled as ash cloud approaches
(about 1 hour later)
Some NI air passengers are facing disruption as a cloud of volcanic ash has halted flights into and out of Scotland and the north-east of England. A number of flights to and from Northern Ireland have been grounded because of the Icelandic ash cloud.
Easyjet flights from Belfast International Airport to Glasgow and Edinburgh have been cancelled. 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 between Belfast and Newcastle and Newcastle and Belfast have also been hit. Two flights to and from City of Derry Airport and Dublin have also been cancelled.
Two Loganair flights between George Best Belfast City Airport and Dundee will also remain grounded. Earlier, UK Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said that Northern Ireland airspace could be most severely affected on Friday.
All three NI airports are advising anyone intending to travel to contact their airline before leaving home. Forecasters have said changing wind patterns made it hard to predict the cloud's exact path and concentrations would vary between regions.
Aer Lingus flights between Shannon, Dublin and Cork and Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen have also been cancelled. Belfast International Airport, Belfast City Airport and City of Derry Airport are advising passengers to contact their airline before leaving home.
Ryanair has objected to an order from Irish officials to ground its morning flights to and from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen on safety grounds. 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.
Last year, thousands of flights were cancelled across Northern Europe because of ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. 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".
'Very modest' 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).
However Mark Beattie, from Belfast City Airport, said that so far the disruption has been "very modest". 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."
"We've had one cancellation so far to Dundee and a few delays, but we're hoping that business can continue as normally as possible," he said. BBC transport correspondent Richard Scott said the CAA confirmed Ryanair were being, at best, "misleading".
Mr Beattie urged passengers to find out the latest information by visiting the href="http://www.belfastcityairport.com/" >airport's website or using href="http://twitter.com/#search?q=belfastcity_air" >Twitter or F href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/George-Best-Belfast-City-Airport/120008798034080" >facebook. 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.
Debra Harris from href="http://www.belfastairport.com/en/" >Belfast International Airport said that disruption was concentrated on flights into and out of Scotland but all passengers should keep in touch with their airlines. 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.
"We've had cancellations on flights to Glasgow and Edinburgh," she said. "It's really unfortunate because it's such a very busy time of year." 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.
Flights from City of Derry Airport to Dublin have been cancelled according to the href="http://www.cityofderryairport.com/index.htm" >airport's website. The Grimsvotn volcano in Vatnajokull National Park began erupting on Saturday and closed Iceland's airspace for a period.
The Civil Aviation Authority has said ash levels would be graded as low, medium or high, and airlines would be notified if levels reached medium or high. 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.
Airlines would then consider whether to fly, according to risk assessments already carried out, the CAA added.