Planes Get Back in the Air

Submitted by edg on Wed, 21 Apr '10 11.12am

Airlines are scrambling to get their staff and timetables back in place today after most of UK airspace opened up last night. At the time of writing, there is still a string of cancellations, but planes are getting in the air.

NATS latest report at 9.45am today says:

"Overnight most of the UK’s airspace has been available with the exception of an area over the north west of Scotland which has continued to be affected by a dense concentration of volcanic ash. We continue to work with the latest information and guidance from our safety regulator, the CAA, the Met Office and the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre on the predicted movements of the area of dense volcanic ash. Based on the latest information, we anticipate that this area will continue to centre on the north west of Scotland and may extend further south into Scottish airspace during today.

Between the period of 0100 – 0700 on 21 April NATS handled 130 flights in airspace over England and Wales and 35 flights in Scottish airspace (including Northern Ireland). We are in regular contact with the UK airports and airline operators to understand the latest information on flights entering UK airspace and our operation is ready to respond to an increase in demand.

Passengers should contact their airlines to find out how the current situation will affect their travel plans. We anticipate being able to provide a further update late this afternoon."