More Than 500 Flights Cancelled Across Europe

May 24 2011           Jump To Discussion

BRUSSELS – The Icelandic volcano Grímsvötn, has continued to spew massive clouds of ash and steam into the air since it first erupted on May 21 2011.

Originally, only local air traffic  in Iceland was brought to a halt.  Over the weekend, the giant ash cloud has spread to parts of Europe halting air traffic in several Northern European countries.

Some 500 flights departing from or arriving at major airports in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands and Germany have been cancelled.   Thousands of travelers have been left stranded spending their night(s) in overcrowded, smelly airports, hoping to catch another flight.

The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) doesn’t believe this ash cloud will have as severe an impact on European air travel as did the ash cloud spewed out by Eyjafjallajökull, the Icelanding volcano that erupted in 2010 and was responsible for grounding all European air travel for several weeks.

The ash cloud coming from Grímsvötn is thick but doesn’t pose the same threat as did the Eyjafjallajökull cloud and flights are being cancelled more as a precautionary measure.

Experts believe that the cloud will travel over Europe in a matter of days and air traffic should be back to normal by then.

U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, cut their visit to Ireland one day short to avoid having their Air Force One plane being grounded because of the ash cloud.

Nearby the Grímsvötn foothills, the cloud is so thick, it turned daylight into night.

 

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