Due to a plume of volcanic ash drifting over the UK, there is severe disruption to our operation today.
Please do not go to the airport if your flight is cancelled.
After 11.30am UK time there will be no departures from any British Airways airport. Many flights before that time have also been affected.
The decision to cancel has been made for safety reasons and on the direction from Air Traffic Control Service (NATS).
ALL airlines will be affected.
You are advised to check the status of your flight before leaving for the airport.
We will update when we have more information

Ma il problema è più di visibilità o di effetti delle ceneri sui fan e sui motori in genere?

Sono proprio le ceneri ingerite che creano problemi al motore.

Ricordate l'incidente al 747 British incappato nelle ceneri di un vulcano in quota, nei pressi dell'Indonesia?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9

Ora il problema è che un vulcano può eruttare cenere per mesi...

Credo che, a costi mostruosi, devieranno le rotte nord atlantiche a sud.

Al telegiornale delle 20,00 hanno detto che in Gran Bretagna è previsto uno stop dei voli di 48 ore e che anche lo scalo di Madrid è stato fermato.

Madrid? Basso, molto basso.

La BBC ha pubblicato un'immagine esplicativa che rapprsenta in modo semplice, ma tuttosommato corretto, gli effetti della cenere vulcanica sul motore.

Icelandic volcano disrupts aviation in Iceland, Scandinavia and Western Europe

Wednesday's (Apr 14th) serious eruption of Icelandic volcano Eyjafjoll, which already caused some disruption to Icelandic Aviation in March (see for example: Incident: Icelandair B752 over Northern Canada on Mar 20th 2010, volcano eruption), threw volcanic ashes up to 11000 meters (FL360), the ash plume was and is moving east since.

While initial forecasts predicted trouble for the UK, Scandinavia and even Russia, the ash plume is now also threatening the Benelux countries (e.g. Amsterdam), Germany as far down as Frankfurt/Main, Scandinavia.

The UK have already closed airports in Northern Ireland (Belfast), Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen) and England (Birmingham, Manchester) including all airports in the London area (Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted). Ireland have closed their entire air space (Dublin, Shannon).

Norway, Sweden and Finland started to suspend air traffic yesterday (Apr 14th) night already.

The Netherlands (Amsterdam) and Belgium (Brussels) closed their airspace in the afternoon (Apr 15th). France have announced to close eight airport in the northern part of the country including Charles de Gaulle Airport in the evening or during the night.

Germany have closed most of their northern air space (Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin), Frankfurt is still operating (Apr 15th).

On Apr 15th European Flow Control have set zero rates in (and effectively closed) following sectors for all IFR traffic: Scotland (all sectors), England (all London sectors), Ireland (all sectors), Denmark (Copenhagen north and south sectors), Norway (Oslo and Stavanger sectors) and Sweden (Stockholm sectors).

The North Atlantic routes are seriously affected mainly because of the entry/exit points in Europe are no longer available.

The American NASA reported, that they are monitoring the volcano with their satellites since March 20th 2010, when the first eruption in 120 years occured. Another eruption occured on April 7th emitting an energy of about 1 billion Watts and more than 6 tons of lava per second. NASA scientists say, that there is concern the eruption of Eyjafjoll may precede a much larger eruption of the nearby Katla volcano suggesting, that the current eruption may continue for some time.

Relevant NOTAMS:

A0145/10 - VOLCANIC ERUPTION IN VOLCANO EYJAFJOLL 1702-02 N6337.5 W01936.4.
CONTAMINATED AREA
SFC/FL200 N6409 W01825W N6137 W0046 N6100 W00000
N6100 W00006 N6219 W01517 - N6322 W02031W - N6409 W01825W
FL200/FL350 N6455 W02030 - N6125 W00119 - N6100 W00006
N6102 W00649 -N8321 W02004 - N6359 W01825
FL350/FL550 N6430 W02032 - N6107 W00012 - N6300 W00000 -
N6100 W008W N6329 W02223 - N6430 W02032
RMK: LIGHTNING REPORTED IN PLUME OVER ICELAND
NO IFR CLEARANCE WILL BE ISSUED PENETRADING THE CONTAMINATED AREA. SFC - UNL,
15 APR 07:55 2010 UNTIL 15 APR 23:59 2010. CREATED: 15 APR 08:08 2010


A0138/10 - VOLCANIC ERUPTION IN VOLCANO EYJAFJOLL 1702-02 N6337.5 W01936.4.
CONTAMINATED AREA
FCST VA CLD 12HR: 15/1200Z

SFC/FL200 N6420 W01550 - N6353 W00244 - N6400 E/W00000 - N6100
E/W00000 - N6100 E/W01000 - N6350 W02242 - N6420 W01550

FL200/FL350 N6432 W02113 - N6244 W00456 - N6300 E/W00000 -N6100
E/W00000 - N6100 W01000 - N6323 W02244 - N6432 W02113

FL350/FL550
N6431 W02023 - N6312 W00333 - N6600 E/W00000 - N6100 E/W00000 -N6100
W01000 - N6247 W02110 - N6431 W02023
NO IFR CLEARANCE WILL BE ISSUED PENTETRADING THE CONTAMINATED AREA. SFC - UNL,
15 APR 06:00 2010 UNTIL 15 APR 18:00 2010. CREATED: 15 APR 00:30 2010

A0135/10 - VOLCANIC ERUPTION IN VOLCANO EYJAFJOLL 1702-02 6337.5 N01936.4W.
AIRCRAFT OPERATORS ARE ADVISED TO MONITOR BIRD SIGMET WITH REFERENCE
TO VOLCANIC ASH FOR THE DURATION OF THE ERUPTION. NO IFR CLEARANCE
PENETRATING THE CONTAMINATED AREA WILL BE ISSUED. VFR FLIGHTS
PENETRATING THE CONTAMINATED AREA WILL BE AT PILOT DISCRETION.
CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR HANDLING TRAFFIC IN THE EVENT OF VOLCANIC ASH
PENETRATING THE AIRSPACE OF NORTH ATLANTIC CAN BE ACCESSED IN MET
OPTION ON WEBSITE HTTP://WWW.PARIS.ICAO.INT.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT BIRD SHIFT MANAGER, TEL: 354 424
4141, INDICATING REFERENCE TO VOLCANIC ASH. - - -, 14 APR 17:20 2010 UNTIL 21
APR 15:00 2010. CREATED: 14 APR 18:33 2010

Già da ieri notte il NATS riporta che i cieli al nord dell'Irlanda e della Scozia sono agibili anche se con limitazioni.

Aggiornamento di ieri notte:
http://www.ilvolo.it/index.php/20100416.../NATS.html
Aggiornamento di oggi:
http://www.ilvolo.it/index.php/20100416.../NATS.html

DUE TO THE RESTRICTIONS APPLIED TO THE PROVISION OF RADAR SERVICES
CAUSED BY THE VOLCANIC DUST CLOUD PASSING OVER THE UK, FARNBOROUGH
RADAR CAN ONLY PROVIDE A BASIC SERVICE, ISSUE A VFR CLEARANCE AND
CANNOT OBTAIN CLEARANCE TO ENTER CONTROLLED AIRSPACE"

Radio hangar Glasgow riporta di un A330 Thomas Cook arrivato ieri sera VFR e ripartito stamattina, sempre VFR, per Vancouver, Canada.

Wow... mitici...

Although the winds can be predicted, the crucial factor is how much ash the still-erupting volcano is pumping into the atmosphere.
A reconnaissance flight to investigate how the ash is distributed in the cloud has now taken place, with the results due to be analysed later.