Thousands Face Ash Flight Delays in UK

Picture taken on 23 May 2011 at around 10:00 AM GMT shows a man cleaning his car from volcanic ashes in the village of Kirkjubaejarklaustur, in the south of Iceland. Airspace over Iceland was closed 23 May 2011. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Drifting ash from an Icelandic volcanic eruption will cause a nasty delay in the travel plans of airline passengers in the United Kingdom, BBC reported.

BA, KLM, Aer Lingus and Easyjet are among the airlines that have chosen to suspend services in and out of Scotland for the coming hours.

But Ryanair has objected to an order from Irish officials to ground its morning flights to and from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen on safety grounds.

The ash cloud is not due to reach other parts of the UK until later this week.

A statement on Ryanair's website read: "Ryanair strongly object to this decision and believe that there is no basis for these flight cancellations and will be meeting with the [Irish Aviation Authority] on Tuesday morning to have this restriction on Ryanair flights removed as a matter of urgency."

Following is a list of the airlines that chose not to fly through Scottish airspace on Tuesday:

- British Airways is not operating any flights between London and Scotland until 1400 BST

- KLM cancelled flights to and from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Newcastle as well as flights from Durham Tees Valley Airport

- EasyJet cancelled flights to and from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen between 0500 and 1300 BST

- Ryanair said it has been advised by the Irish Aviation Authority not to operate flights from Glasgow Prestwick, Edinburgh or Aberdeen until at least 1300 BST but believed that "there is no basis for these flight cancellations"

- Flybe cancelled flights to and from Aberdeen and Inverness

- BMI said flights to and from Aberdeen were subject to delay and passengers should check its website, but services in and out of Glasgow and Edinburgh were running normally

- Glasgow-based Loganair has cancelled 36 flights. Only inter-island routes in Orkney are unaffected

- Eastern Airways will not be operating any services in or out of Scottish airspace

The cancellations come just over a year after ash clouds from another Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, led to the closure of a large section of European airspace. Governments feared that ash particles could cause aircraft engines to fail, and the closure caused chaos to air travelers.

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