Volcanic ash closes airspace in Iceland
The Icelandic authorities have imposed a local flight ban after the country's most active volcano, Grimsvotn, began erupting.
A phrase which will send shivers down the spine of anybody involved in airfreight around the world. This time it is extremely localised and experts predict that the exclusion zone set-up will cope with the volcanic ash being thrown up but just the very thought of another large scale exclusion zone over europe will have airlines and freight-forwarders running scared. Presently, A plume of smoke has risen 20km (12 miles) into the sky from the volcano but Iceland's Meteorological Office says the eruption should not cause widespread disruption to air traffic.
Last Year's Volcanic Ash eruption.
Ash clouds from another Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokul, led to the closure of a large section of European airspace. Governments feared that ash particles could cause aircraft engines to fail, and the closure caused chaos to air travellers. Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, a spokeswoman for the Isavia civil aviation authority - which has imposed a flight ban of 120 nautical miles (222 km) around Grimsvotn - said: "We have closed the area until we know better what effect the ash will have."
Different volcanic ash?
Officials say it is unlikey to have the same impact as last year as the ash in Eyjafjallajokull was persistent or unremitting and fine-grained wheras the ash in Grimsvotn is more coarse and not as likely to cause danger as it falls to the ground faster. This coarse volcanic ash doesn't stay in the air anywhere near as long as in the Eyjafjallajokull eruption.Domestic airline Icelandair said no traffic had been affected.
The effect on air travel.
This time their should be no visible effects on air travel. Such a localised air closure is not, in itself uncommon. But this is a stark reminder as to what happened last year and a wake-up call to an industry which already has severe issues to think about contingency plans should such an event occur again.
