Flight Cancellations Worldwide: Iceland Volcano Eruption

Image Via news.yahoo.com

An ash cloud from Iceland's spewing volcano halted air traffic across Europe on Thursday April 15. Thousands of flights from European airports have been canceled, stranding tens of thousands of passengers, and officials said it was not clear when it would be safe enough to fly again. The flight cancellations is caused by the cloud of ash thrown up by the eruption of Iceland's volcano.

Iceland's second volcano eruption in less than a month melted part of a glacier and caused heavy flooding on Wednesday, forcing up to 800 people to evacuate and grounding some flights over Norway. According to geophysicist Gunnar Gunnarsson of

Iceland's Meteo Institute, the eruption was in "the southwestern part of Eyjafjallajokull's top crater". [Manila Bulletin]

Airport Delays [flightstats]

Several countries have closed their airspace or are expected to later in the day, including Britain, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Switzerland. This also includes Heathrow airport, Europe's busiest. You can check flight cancellations or delays at Flightstats. Or if you would want to view real time air traffic in Europe visit flightradar24.

Real-Time Air Traffic [flightradar24]

"To clear the ash we either need the volcano to stop belching debris or we need a change in the weather. Unfortunately, we have a high pressure just to the south of Iceland. This one is a 'blocking high', a high pressure that has essentially got stuck, and forces all the other weather to go around it." says Steff Gaulter, Al Jazeera's senior meteorologist. [Aljazeera]