Iceland's volcanic ash no problem for Morocco

Ash from the Grimsvotn volcano, under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland is now not expected to have much further impact on air travel. After its eruption began on May 21 airports in Scandinavia and the UK were closed for only a short time.

The Grimsvotn volcano

According to air traffic controllers in Britain, the ash cloud left British airspace this morning. However, the UK Met Office says there may be a return of the cloud on Friday.

Domestic flights are expected to resume as airlines recover from yesterday's disruption.

But European flights will still be subjected to cancellations as ash from the Grimsvotn volcano drifts over northern Germany.

Lufthansa said it expects to cancel about 150 flights today due to concerns about the ash cloud.

Hamburg and Bremen airports cancelled takeoffs and landings this morning, and German authorities said Berlin terminals could also face closure from 1000 GMT. Parts of Scandinavia are also facing a risk of disruption.

British Airways cancelled three flights between London Heathrow and Hamburg, while easyJet called off scheduled flights between London and Copenhagen and advised passengers flying from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle and some European airports to check their flight status before travelling.

KLM, the Dutch airline, cancelled departures from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Aberdeen all bound for Amsterdam, along with a number of flights across the continent, and three Eastern Airways flights were grounded.

Ryanair ruled out all scheduled transfers to and from Bremen, Lubeck and Magdeburg airports before 2pm CET, but Flybe said it expected to operate normally.

Meanwhile, tourism in Morocco has felt little or no impact.

Iceland's Volcano Disrupts Flights - LATEST UPDATES

Airlines halted dozens of flights on Tuesday after a plume of ash from an erupting volcano in Iceland blew over Britain, even forcing U.S. President Barack Obama to revise his travel plans. With the volcanic plume reaching twenty kilometres into the atmosphere, forecasters warned that the plume could reach the European mainland later in the week. The View from Fez will update airline information in this post, as it comes to hand.

At this stage there is no immediate threat to flights to Morocco, though this could change as high winds are forcing the ash cloud towards southern England and flights from that region may be affected from around 6pm today.

What is potentially negative for Morocco is that barely a year after a similar eruption in Iceland forced the biggest closure of European airspace since World War Two, another disruption to tourist numbers would come at a time when the country is still suffering from the downturn caused by international unrest and the tragedy of the bombing in Marrakesh. On the upside, tourism to other Moroccan cities is recovering and here in Fez, which is considered a very safe destination, things are improving

LATEST UPDATE: 2030 Morocco Time

High concentrations of volcanic ash from the Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland are wafting over northern parts of Britain and have forced the cancellation of 500 flights across Europe, the European air traffic center said Tuesday.

Eurocontrol also predicted more cancellations Wednesday as the cloud drifts toward Denmark, southern Norway and southwest Sweden. But the agency also expects the number of future flights affected by the cloud will be relatively low.

UPDATE 1600

Ryanair's flight from Edinburgh to Marrakech took off about 1500 BST, in defiance of warnings from the Civil Aviation Authority.

ACTIVITY at Iceland's erupting volcano has slowed and its flight-halting ash plume had overnight dropped from its peak of 20 kilometres to between three and five kilometres in altitude, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said today. "The activity has reduced. It's much less strong than on the first day", on Saturday, Olof Baldursdottir, a spokeswoman for the agency,added that.."The plume is lower than it has been. It was seven to eight kilometres last evening, but during the night it went down to three to five kilometres," she said, stressing though that the decline could probably be partially attributed to "strong winds that affect the plume".
Harsh weather conditions had made observations of the the volcano and the plume impossible early today, but a scientific flight was expected to go out at noon, Baldursdottir said. Strong low altitude northern winds were currently pushing the cloud of ash towards the south, she added.

UPDATE 1130 Morocco Time
Scotland's airports have been hit by severe disruption as drifting ash from an Icelandic volcano caused delays and cancellations. Thousands of passengers have been affected after airlines suspended services in and out of Scotland, with ash forecast until at least 1900 BST.

The cancellations follow severe storms which have affected road and rail travel across Scotland. Hundreds of engineers have also been out working to restore power to homes. Airport managers in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen said the situation was very fluid and urged passengers to contact their airlines.

Airports had been warned the ash plume would cover the central belt by early morning but it is now expected to drift over Edinburgh, Glasgow and Prestwick during the afternoon. Passengers have faced long delays at Edinburgh Airport and across Scotland

LAST YEAR'S VOLCANO IMPACT
(Source: IATA, Eurocontrol, European Commission)


• Over 10m people stranded or unable to board flights
• Airlines lost $1.7bn in missed revenues
• Airports lost €250m
• 90pc of flights cancelled in worst-affected markets: Finland, Ireland, UK
• Low-cost carriers were worse hit than long-distance carriers, cancelling some 61pc of their flights
• Travel by business jets was the least affected
• 30pc of total worldwide airline capacity was cut. European capacity was cut by 75pc, Africa by 30pc, Middle East by 20pc, others 15pc
• Airline kerosene demand fell by 1.2m barrels a day, compared with 4.3m barrels consumed on a normal day
• Emerging market currencies tied to tourism such as the Kenyan shilling and Turkisjh lira fell
• OECD said ash week cost the European economy $5bn
• Travel and tourism, including transport, lodgings and related investment, comprise about 4pc of West European GDP, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.
• PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated each week of disruption destroyed around 0.025pc-0.05pc of annual British GDP; the same would probably be true of other European countries.
• While hotels received fewer incoming tourists, some were able to raise prices to take advantage of stranded tourists.

In this, the latest eruption, Britain's flagship carrier British Airways was the first to suspend flights from London to Scotland. "Following forecasts of significant volcanic ash in Scottish airspace, (we) have decided as a precaution that it will not operate any flights between London and Scotland on Tuesday . . . that arrive in Scotland before 2:00 pm (1300 GMT) or depart from Scotland before 2:00 pm," a BA statement said.
Dutch airline KLM, Irish carrier Aer Lingus and budget liner Easyjet then followed suit while some flights into the north-eastern English city of Newcastle were cancelled.

Low-budget airline Ryanair meanwhile said it would challenge advice from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) not to operate flights to Scotland until lunchtime. In a statement on its website, Ryanair said it strongly objected to an order by the Irish aviation authority (IAA) to halt flights, adding that "here is no basis for these flight cancellations and will be meeting with the IAA on Tuesday morning to have this restriction on Ryanair flights removed as a matter of urgency.

"Ryanair believe that there is no safety risk to aircraft on fights operating to and from Scotland and together with other airlines will be complaining to the Transport Minister and regulatory authorities about these latest and unnecessary cancellations."

Moroccan airports: Ash update 12 May

Ten airports in Morocco, among them Casablanca, Rabat-Sale, Tangier, Tetouan, Fez, Al Hoceima, Nador, Agadir, Tan Tan and Essaouira — mostly major tourist stops — were being closed until at least 07h00 today, Wednesday 12 May.

A Transport Ministry statement carried by Maghreb Arab Press news agency said it wants "to guarantee a maximum level of security for passengers" as the ash cloud passes over the kingdom on the Atlantic Coast.

"These decisions will be updated according to the evolution of the situation and the information from the National Weather department and the Eurocontrol Agency," the Ministry said.

The Ministry called on passengers to check on their flights before going to airports with their airlines or at the call center of the National Airports Authority 0810 000 224.

Emissions from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano already forced the closure of several airports in Southern Europe over the weekend and further disruption is expected in coming days.

Ash cloud closes Moroccan airports

The ash is back. Fresh volcanic activity under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland has resulted in a fresh ash plume being pushed about 5.5km (18,000ft) into the air.

a new ash plume at the weekend

Airspace over Europe was closed down for six days last month because of fears of the effect of volcanic ash on aircrafts' engines.

The latest plume was the result of a fresh pulse of meltwater and ice from the surrounding glacier entering the volcano, explained Haraldur Olafsson, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Iceland.

"Greater quantities of fine grain ash have been ejected from the volcano", explained Olafsson, similar similar to the events that generated April's massive ash cloud that spread across much of Europe.

"In the early phase of the eruption, there was a lot of meltwater and ice, which contributed to the explosions, which in turn contributed to a lot of solid material being pushed very far up into the atmosphere."

He added that there was still a lot of meltwater that could cause further plumes to be pushed into the atmosphere.

"It is not finished yet. Sooner or later, this is going to stop, but this is not imminent." Scores of UK air passengers are facing further disruption from a volcanic ash cloud that has halted European flights.

In Morocco, the airports at Tangier and Rabat have been closed. Passengers headed to Marrakech should check updated information before travelling to the airport.

British airports remain open, but both Ryanair and Easyjet said they had been forced to cancel dozens of flights.

Ryanair said it had cancelled flights to and from the Canary Islands, Faro and Madrid. Flights to and from Granada, Jerez, Malaga and Seville also been cancelled.

Easyjet spokesman Andrew McConnell said the "vast majority" of its flights were operating normally.

British airports operator BAA has also warned of delays to transatlantic services and cancellations by airlines.

Volcano ash: latest

Around 60% of flights from northern Europe are expected to begin again from today, Tuesday 20 April.


A small number of flights have already taken off after five days of inactivity caused by the spread of volcanic ash from Iceland. Planes have been departing from Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt among others - though many flights are still grounded.

However, not all the news is good. A new ash cloud spreading from Iceland has meant that most of UK airspace, including London, remains closed. The UK's air traffic control authority, Nats, says it is unlikely that the main airports in London will reopen on Tuesday.

EUROPEAN AIRSPACE 11h00 today, 20 April
BELGIUM - Airspace open. Limited service
UK - Airspace open over Scotland and Northern Ireland. Limited airspace over north of England. London airports remain closed
FRANCE - Limited flights from Paris to international destinations. Most airports open
GERMANY - Airspace closed, with some exceptions, until 18h00 on Tuesday. Lufthansa planning to operate 200 flights
IRELAND - Airspace remains closed
ITALY - Airspace open. Handful of flights resumed in and out of Milan
NETHERLANDS - Airspace open. Passenger flights arriving and departing in Amsterdam
SPAIN - Airspace open; all airports operating
SWEDEN - Airspace open
SWITZERLAND - Airspace open
DENMARK - Airspace above 16,600ft open. No landings
NORWAY - Airspace closed
POLAND - Airspace closed

A Nats statement said the situation remained "dynamic" and that "the latest information from the Met Office shows that the situation today will continue to be variable".

In an effort to try to take control of the situation, EU transport ministers have created a core no-fly area, a limited-service zone and an open-skies area. The Eurocontrol air traffic agency in Brussels says that some 14,000 of Europe's 27,500 daily flights are expected to fly on Tuesday.

The deputy director of operations, Brian Flynn, said: "The outlook is optimistic that bit by bit, hopefully in a few days' time, the situation will be restored to normal movement of air passengers in Europe."

Swiss and northern Italian airspace has reopened. The Swiss authorities said test flights had shown a considerable reduction in the amount of ash in the atmosphere and posed no threat to passenger safety.

Flights have resumed out of Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Orly airport, which are operating at about 30% capacity.

The German carrier, Lufthansa, says it is planning about 200 flights on Tuesday, taking advantage of special permission to fly visually rather than relying on instruments and keeping in constant touch with air traffic controllers.

In Spain, where all airports were open, the government has offered to let Britain and other European countries use its airports as stopovers to get passengers moving again.

Meanwhile, the EU Commissioner for Transport, Siim Kallas, has rejected criticism that the EU took too long to respond to the crisis. Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr Kallas said that all decisions were taken in accordance with existing and established rules.

Mr Kallas said that officials had had to delay decisions until "the ultimate truth" of the situation was known following test flights on Sunday.

He said the matter was not "in the hands of arbitrary decisions", but that the lives of people were at stake.

Sufi Festival update

The combined effects of flights cancelled due to volcanic ash over Europe and bad weather in Fez have conspired to make events at the Fes Festival of Sufi Culture run less than smoothly.

Faouzi Skali chats to Jalal Eddine Weiss

Founder Faouzi Skali's wish to begin the conference in the garden of the Batha Museum was frustrated by a downpour, and the afternoon eventually took place in the Prefecture hall opposite.

Later that evening it was discovered that the concert had been moved to the Jnan Palace Hotel in the Ville Nouvelle. And a superb concert it was, given by Sheikh Habboush from Syria and Jalal Eddine Weiss.

Whirling dervish

The conference this afternoon, Sunday, was cancelled because several speakers were unable to come to Fez. The evening concert will again be held at the Jnan Palace. The schedule of events for tomorrow, Monday 19 April, is as yet unclear.

Photos: Omar Chennafi