London airports reopen after ash forced overnight shutdown

London's two main airports have reopened after they were forced to shut early Monday as a new ash cloud from the Iceland volcano drifted south, threatening yet more travel chaos. Airports in Northern Ireland and the Netherlands remain closed. 

Reuters

Europe's busiest air hub, Heathrow airport shut at 1am local time, as did Gatwick, for at least six hours after stronger eruptions from the volcano.

"The high density ash cloud continues to move further south in the early hours" of Monday, said a statement from the National Air Traffic Services, which manages British airspace.

In the Netherlands meanwhile, authorities announced the closure of the airports in Amsterdam and Rotterdam from 6am local time, until 2pm Monday.

The latest ash closures came at the beginning of a week where air travel disruption was already expected due to a five-day strike by British Airways cabin crew set to kick off Tuesday.

Eurostar, which runs high-speed rail services linking London with Paris and Brussels via the Channel Tunnel, said it was laying on extra trains between the British and French capitals Monday to answer an expected surge in demand.