Numerous Aer Lingus and Ryanair flights to Scotland have been cancelled as the dreaded ash cloud has begun to rear its ugly head over European airspace.
The plume of smoke that erupted from the Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland on Saturday had begun to drift in the direction of Ireland and the UK in the last couple of days and now it seems that the nightmare scenarios that affected thousands of European travellers just over a year ago might be about to repeat themselves.
All Aer Lingus flights from Dublin, Cork and Shannon to Scottish airports have been cancelled until midday today at the earliest, while Ryanair have reluctantly cancelled flights to and from Edinburgh, Glasgow Prestwick and Aberdeen until at least 1pm.
Michael O’Leary’s airline are not at all happy about being forced into the move, saying that they “strongly objected” to the advice from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), that they believed there was no basis for the flight cancellations and that they would be meeting with the Aviation Authority this morning to have restrictions on flights removed.
Passengers in Northern Ireland wishing to travel to Scotland have also been affected, while in the UK, thousands of travellers are believed to be stranded due to disruption caused to airlines such as British Airways, Easyjet and KLM.
In a worrying development, the ash cloud is expected to move further south into areas over Northern Ireland and northern parts of England later today, with Ireland likely to be affected shortly afterwards.
Passengers who may be affected are being urged to contact their airlines before travelling.
Click here for more information on the Aer Lingus flights affected and here for more information on Ryanair cancellations.
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