Irish Airspace Reopens

Irish airspace has finally reopened after six days of planes being grounded due to the cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland.

A spokesman from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of the UK said last night they had sanctioned the resumption of full service to Europe, North America and the UK on a phased basis in all Irish and UK airspace from 9pm last night.

The IAA said the lifting of restrictions was subject to the ash cloud not moving over Ireland and no further aggressive activity from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano.

The authority said it expects flights tomorrow will focus on positioning aircraft and crews and full service by the airlines may take up to three days to recover. It also advised passengers to consult airline websites before travelling to the airport for flights.

The reopening of airspace came after an plan between the European Transport Ministers, the IAA, the UK CAA, and UK NATS yesterday when a safe model to allow flight operations to resume in both countries was agreed.

Mr Eamonn Brennan, IAA CEO, said: "We welcome this agreement, which balances safety priorities with the need of the industry. This provides the foundation for a long-term solution to the volcanic ash issue, however we need to be careful over the next few days as we are concerned that the ash cloud currently positioned between Iceland and Ireland may drift over the country.

"Ireland is one of the closest European countries to the exclusion zone which is shown in the Eurocontrol Air Ash Concentration Charts."

In last night's statement the spokesman added that aircraft engine manufacturers had been consulted and detailed technical guidance was developed in conjunction with CAA and IAA.

"This has been issued to airlines and maintenance organisations. This includes a risk management regime and additional maintenance. Each airline will have to comply with guidance material that will include additional reporting, maintenance inspections and regular ash ingestion assessments," the spokesman said.

(DW/GK)