Flights start again as air monitoring continues

The Met Office is continuing the process of air monitoring, as flights grounded by the well publicised ash cloud have started to leave UK runways again today (May 25th 2011).

The weekend eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland caused many airlines to suspend some flights from a number of airports yesterday, as the debris from the explosion affected air quality.

Forecasters at the Met Office are keeping the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) abreast of developments before a judgement is made on whether airspace is safe or not.

Some carriers such as British Airways are said to be unhappy with the decision to declare parts of the UK unsafe.

The Met Office had predicted the cloud to have cleared by today and this has been the case, but it remains unclear whether it will return.

Leaders of the CAA revealed earlier this week that lessons had been learned following the 2010 ash cloud, which saw UK airspace close for six days.

The organisation insisted the country is better prepared to deal with a repeat performance and different ash density zones have been identified in an attempt to keep flights moving safely.

Posted by Claire Manning