Flights Restart As Cloud Passes

Although passengers are still being advised to check with airline websites before arriving at the airport, flights are just beginning to get off the ground across most of the Irish Republic.

This morning, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) lifted restrictions within Irish airspace, except for a block off the south coast of Ireland.

The IAA says it is concerned that the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland is still erupting but feels it is safe to reopen airspace at this time but has cautioned that the situation may change depending on weather conditions.

The authority says the ash plume has cleared from the island and the skies are now clear for commercial traffic.

The lifting of the restrictions means US flights can fly west, but flights to many parts of Europe will still be disrupted because of the plume moving down over northern Europe.

However, restrictions still remain in place in the UK until at least 1am tomorrow morning and that will have a huge effect on Irish air traffic.

Around half of the EU's air traffic has been cancelled today and airlines will now set about trying to re-organise fleets to meet schedules - that will take some time and significant delays are expected to continue.

Security screening reopened at Dublin Airport at around 9am and many passengers have since been boarding Aer Lingus flights for the US.

Ryanair has said this morning that all UK and Irish services have been cancelled but internal flights on the Dublin-Cork-Kerry route may begin again at 1pm.

Across Europe the budget airline said services in Denmark and Finland have also been cancelled while flights to and from Norway and Sweden were grounded until 1pm.

Operations to and from Belgium, Holland, northern France, northern Germany are cancelled until 5pm.

(BMcC/GK)