No air travel resumption across Europe as ash from the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano continues to disrupt.
Air traffic in Irish airspace, due to resume on a phased basis is halted again as further eruptions of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull replenish the ash cloud and continued to disrupt air transport across Europe.
Passengers arriving at Dublin Airport have their hopes of flights resuming dashed and find themselves facing further cancellations and delays.
Since 15 April 2010 most of European airspace has been closed due to the volcanic ash cloud. One couple have been stranded at Dublin Airport for almost a week. Another passenger adds,
There's a lot to be said for having holidays at home.
At a Government Taskforce on Emergency Planning press conference, assistant secretary of the Department of Transport Maurice Mullen estimates 20-30,000 Irish people are stranded in other countries by the grounding of flights. He believes 20-30% of them have already returned home on ferries.
The massive ash cloud hanging over Ireland and the rest of Europe is not moving away owing to the dry weather and lack of wind. On a positive note a south westerly wind is expected to clear the skies over western Europe by Friday.
Met Éireann forecaster Gerald Fleming says,
Once it clears that problem is gone from us for the foreseeable meteorological future which is about 10 days after that it all depends on what the weather does after that and what the volcano does after that.
As Irish flight disruptions are to last for several more days, Ryanair spokesperson Stephen McNamara says the airline is cancelling flights between Ireland and the United Kingdom until Friday afternoon. The airline hopes to resume other European services on Thursday so,
We can utilise those aircraft to go down to Spain and Canary Islands and collect Irish passengers that have been stranded down there and get them home as soon as possible.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 20 April 2010. The reporter is Will Goodbody.
