Tens of thousands of people facing the air travel chaos since Monday (5/23/2011) when the volcanic ash of Mount Grimsvotn in Iceland entering British territory. Dozens of flights in the area of England and Scotland have been canceled. Denmark had earlier closed the flight path around Greenland. United States President Barack Obama, who was visiting Ireland, and even had to go home a day early from the country for fear of volcanic ash will hamper his visit.Grimsvotn mountain that lies beneath the glacier ice and unoccupied in Vatnajokull, southeast Iceland, started erupting last Saturday. It was the first eruption since the last eruption in 2004 and is the largest eruption in the next 100 years.
Volcanic ash from the Grimsvotn it has reached Scotland and Ireland on Sunday night and disrupt airline operations. British Airways (BA) on Sunday night to cancel all flights between London and Scotland until Monday at 14.00 local time. A total of 30 to 40 BA flights will be affected, including Heathrow Airport, Gatwick, and London City to and from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. BA did 80 flights per day between the airports.
Dutch airline, KLM, also canceled 16 flights scheduled on Monday morning to and from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Newcastle. The airline said passengers on each flight is canceled can claim a full refund or rebook an alternative flight.
A spokesman for BA said: "We urge customers not to travel to the airport if their flight has been canceled."
At least 36 flights were canceled at Scotland on Sunday night and Monday as airports across the UK are in a standby status disorders.
Monday afternoon, the British Meteorology Office estimated that the ash cloud will head south, which could cover most of England and Wales, with low ash concentration. Ash concentration is, the rate at which planes fly need to obtain permission from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), might affect Newcastle airport.
Barack Obama flew from Ireland to London, England, on Monday night, a day early, to ensure that the ash vulknik not postpone his state visit. Similarly, Obama's flight had been moved forward, Barcelona soccer squad will also travel to London ahead of schedule for the Champions League final against Manchester United at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
Disaster ash vulknik this time came a year after the volcanic ash of Mount Eyjafjallajökull spread throughout Europe, triggering the biggest fly zones in Europe since the Second World War. However, the UK CAA stressed that unlike the six-day ban last year, a full closure of British airspace will not happen this time. That's because the various tests following the experience of April last year showed that many airlines are still to be done when the density of ash in the category of low or moderate.
A total of 9000 flights carrying a total of 500,000 passengers in and out of British airspace every day.