Iceland volcanic ash heads for British airspace

[SjaaKTreKHaaK]

Volcanic ash from an Icelandic eruption could reach British airspace Tuesday, sooner than previously predicted, Britain's Civil Aviation Authority warned Monday.

 

Scotland's Loganair announced that all flights will be canceled Tuesday due to forecasts that indicate "a high density of ash will be present in large parts of Scottish airspace."

 

The ash forced the closure of Icelandic airspace over the weekend, raising the specter of the kind of disruption of trans-Atlantic and European air travel that took place last year.

 

But the CAA said new arrangements have been put in place since last year's eruption of another Icelandic volcano that should reduce the number of flights that have to be canceled if the ash cloud spreads.

 

The main international airport in Iceland is expected to reopen at 6 p.m. (2 p.m. EDT) Monday, following the eruption of Grimsvotn over the weekend, according to a statement from Icelandair.

 

There were no international flights in or out of the country on Sunday after Europe's most active volcano began to erupt on Saturday.

 

Icelandic officials will reassess the situation Monday and hope to be able to reopen airspace, Keflavik International Airport

 

spokeswoman Hjordis Gudmundsdottir said.

Last year, trans-Atlantic and European air traffic was snarled for weeks by an ash cloud from the other volcano, Eyjafjallajokull.

 

The Grimsvotn volcano under the Vatnajokull glacier erupted Saturday, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office.

 

The last eruption of the volcano was in 2004, CNN affiliate TV2 Iceland reported.

 

Grimsvotn is Iceland's most frequently active volcano. In 1783, a 16.7-mile fissure system from the volcano produced the world's largest known historical lava flow over a seven-month period, damaging crops and livestock, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. A resulting famine resulted in the loss of one-fifth of Iceland's population, according to the Smithsonian website.

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thats pretty serious

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And again. The last time this happend it costs billions of money.....