Ash cloud will cause summer of discontent

Air passengers face a summer of disruption as the ash cloud created by Iceland's erupting volcanco is expected to continually drift over the UK and the rest of northern Europe for the next few months.

Although the Icelandic Meteorological Office believes the explosive activity from the volcano is decreasing, the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK admits is could continue to create problems for air passengers for quite a while yet.

The volcano might have died down but there are no signs activity is about to end and northerly winds are expected to blow the ash over Britain throughout the summer.

While test flights carried out last month established that aircraft are able to fly through a low density of volcanic dust, when the density breaches the new safety guidelines established authorities will have no choice but to close airports.

Scottish and Irish airports were closed over the weekend and air space over southern Europe was also shut down due volcanic ash late last week. Transatlantic flights from London had to be routed around the ash cloud, adding 10 to 15 minutes to the flight time.

The Civil Aviation Authority said far more flights would have been cancelled late last week and over the weekend without the new guidelines drawn up last month.

European transport ministers say they are now working quickly towards unifying European airspace which should ease any further disruption, though plans are not expected to be finalised for at least two years.

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