Scottish Flights Cancelled Due To Icelandic Ash Cloud ; Will More European Airspace Be Closed?

A Swiss tourist stands on highway one, just outside the ash fallout zone in Kirkjubaejarklaustur May 22, 2011. REUTERS/Ingolfur Juliusson

Ash from an Icelandic volcano, the Grimsvotn volcano under the Vatnajokull glacier forced the cancellation of dozens of flights to and from Scotland on Tuesday.

Last year, ash from another Icelandic volcano caused 100,000 flights to be canceled, stranding 10 million passengers and costing the industry an estimated $1.7 billion in lost revenue.

(Please click here for ‘Volcano Eruption Closed Airports In Europe’).

Norway’s airport operator said the ash cloud would cause some flight restrictions on its west coast on Tuesday and Denmark said a small area of its airspace would be closed.

Below are some of the flights affected as reported by REUTERS:

1.    Ryanair cancelled 36 flights between Scotland and cities across Europe, was told by the Irish Aviation Authority not to operate flights to Scottish airports until at least 1 p.m. (8 a.m. EDT).

 2.   British Airways said it would not operate any flights between London and Scotland on Tuesday that arrived in Scotland before 8 a.m. EDT or departed from Scotland before that time.

 3.   Flybe, EasyJet and Aer Lingus all said they were cancelling some of their flights to and from Scotland on Tuesday.

 4.    KLM, part of Air France-KLM canceled 16 flights to and from four British cities scheduled for Tuesday. Fights to and from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle would be canceled on Tuesday morning, it said.

Europe’s air traffic control organization said that if the volcanic emissions continued at the same rate, the cloud could reach western French and northern Spanish airspace on Thursday.

Map locates Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland that has started erupting.

A plane flies past smoke plume from the eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano, under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland May 21, 2011. REUTERS/Olafur Sigurjonsson

A cloud of smoke and ash is seen over the Grimsvoetn volcano on Iceland on May 21.  (AFP/File)

Smoke plume rises from the eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano, under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland May 21, 2011. Airlines began cancelling flights to Britain late on Monday because of an ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano reaching its airspace, although experts expected no repeat of travel chaos from an eruption a year ago. Picture taken May 21, 2011. REUTERS/Olafur Sigurjonsson

Picture shows the growing ash plume from the Grimsvotn volcano, under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland, as its eruption begins May 21, 2011. REUTERS/Ingolfur Bruun

Sequence pictures of the volcano eruption

Sequence pictures of the volcano eruption

A cloud of smoke and ash is seen over the Grimsvoetn volcano on Iceland on May 21. A plume of ash from the erupting volcano is being blown south towards Britain and could reach the airspace over mainland Europe later in the week, meteorological experts said. (AFP)