Airports re-open after weekend of disruption

Most airports in Europe are due to open as normal on Monday, after air traffic authorities lifted the restrictions imposed over the weekend to keep planes clear of a cloud of volcanic ash over the Atlantic Ocean. Delays are likely to continue, however, as some airspace remains closed above Iceland and Portugal, while transatlantic flights will have to be re-routed.

Reuters

Porto Santo and Funchal airports in Madeira, and Cascais and Lisbon in Portugal will remain closed until at least 1000 GMT on Monday.

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) re-opened airports in Donegal, Sligo, Knock, Galway and Kerry at 0500 GMT. They will remain open until at least 1800 GMT, the IAA says.

Air traffic controllers in Scotland, Austria, Germany, Spain and Italy began re-opening their airports on Sunday.

While France, Austria and Switzerland avoided airspace closures, authorities there cancelled flights departing for southern Europe.

In total, more than 700 flights were grounded this weekend. Airlines warn that passengers will continue to face heavy delays as they attempt to clear the backlog.

The ash plume from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano is generally between 4 and 5 kilometres in height but sporadically increases to 6 kilometres, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office. The volcano's activity has been gradually decreasing over the past week, but the activity has been variable and further changes in activity can be expected, forecasters warn.

The ash has broken up into several separate clouds above parts of France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Spain and Portugal. Another cloud above the Atlantic Ocean is forcing pilots flying westbound to take a longer route to avoid the ash.

Passengers are advised to check with airlines whether their flights will be running before setting out for the airport.