SME Times - Clouds Thinning Airspaces Opening Says Eurocontrol, Volcanic Ash Over Europe is Beginning to Thin, Volcanic Ash Clouds is Beginning to Thin

Top Stories

»	India’s organic food exports register 35 pc jump, to cross $665 million in FY25
»	Crisil projects 6.5 pc GDP growth for India in fiscal 2026 amid US tariffs
»	India, EU must take concrete steps to remove trade barriers: Piyush Goyal
»	90-day US tariff relief will lead to more sustainable trade pacts: Experts
»	India’s exports surge to record $820 billion in 2024-25 despite global challenges

DPA | 19 Apr, 2010
The cloud of volcanic ash over Europe is beginning to thin and a number of countries have been able to reopen their airspace, European air traffic control body Eurocontrol said Monday.

The cloud from an Icelandic volcano has forced the widest and most expensive shutdown in European aviation history, with experts saying that it dwarfs the closures which followed the terrorist attacks on New York and northern Virginia Sep 11, 2001.

But according to Eurocontrol, the cloud thinned significantly in the night from Sunday to Monday, especially around the Mediterranean and in Scandinavia.

Spain, Portugal, southern France, northern Italy and Slovenia were all ash-free Monday morning, as were Norway and parts of Sweden and Finland, Eurocontrol said. Poland and Belarus were also clear.

Sunday, the cloud had blanketed the overwhelming majority of European airspace from northern Norway to Mallorca and from Ireland to Turkey.

However, with the volcano under Iceland's Ejyafjallajokull glacier still erupting, officials said it was not clear whether the break in the cloud heralded its dissolution or was just a temporary respite.