New volcano erupts 2011

New season, same problem: Another volcano in Iceland erupts and blocks flights in Europe. This time it is the Grímsvötn volcano. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%ADmsv%C3%B6tn )

Here you can see the distribution of ashes at the moment:

And this is a satellite picture:

The cloud is not as high as last year, between 5 - 7 km (15.000 - 20.000 feet) elevation and the heavier ashes falls faster, therefore distributes not as far as the Eyjafjallajökull. Still, e.g. Barack Obama left Ireland earlier then planned to avoid the ashes.

The Statement from Siim Kallas / European commission for transport: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/kallas/headlines/news/2011/05/2011_05_24_volcanic_ash_statement_en.htm

Bottomline: everything is different then in 2010, but it still will be a "very challenging week" according to him.

The cloud of volcano ashes is expect to hit Germany this evening. And according to the EACCC ( http://www.eurocontrol.int/articles/european-aviation-crisis-coordination-cell-eaccc ) every European country should the airlines decide if they want to take off or not. (edit: another link - http://www.eurocontrol.int/news/european-aviation-crisis-coordination-cell-activated )

I try to keep you folks up to date. But if you have planned a cruise beginning in the next days probably it is not a bad idea to stay in touch with your air line.

ingo_e - Thanks for the very cool illustration!

Just saw this article on Yahoo! regarding airtravel and cancellations.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iceland_volcano

Hopefully the volcano won't have as much an impact as last years!!

Good luck to all travelers.

Update 2011 05 25 / 8 a.m. UTC+1:

Cloud of ashes sunk to 6000 feet, distributes over northern Germany. Some airports are affected, but none important. Here's a short summary.

A new forecast for the ashcloud: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/volcano/public/natlantic.html

If you use Twitter, the hashtag is #ashcloud

Accounts of some airports:

CDG Paris: http://twitter.com/#!/AeroportsParis/

Heathrow London: http://twitter.com/#!/HeathrowAirport

Schiphol Amsterdam: http://twitter.com/#!/schiphol

Germany:

Hamburg, Bremen are closed since 6 a.m., Berlin is going to close its airport this morning. Düsseldorf, Frankfurt & Munich remain open. Frankfurt cancelled flight to Scotland.

England:

All London airports remain open, but also some northbound flights are cancelled.

The Netherlands:

Schiphol is open, same as Heathrow and Frankfurt: A few flights to Norway, Scotland, Sweden had been cancelled.

France:

CDG is open, a few cancellations. Guess which direction ;)

So that are good news, there should be no problems if you intend to arrive from the US / Aus on one of the major european airports!

Thanks so much for condensing this information. We were part of the Great Volcanic Excitement when heading to Rome last April, and a friend flies (we hope) to Schiphol tonight for an Avalon cruise.

Keeping us up to date is really appreciated.

We are flying to London today, and Heathrow is open, and our flight to Rome Friday is operation (whew!)

All German airports have reopened.

steamboats

All German airports have reopened.

 

steamboats

Thanks for the update.

We leave for Amsterdam Avalon cruise Saturday. Sure hope everything back to normal...........