Dense ash cloud from Iceland volcano heads for Scotland, airlines cancel some flights

LONDON ? A dense ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano blew toward Scotland, causing airlines to cancel Tuesday flights, forcing President Barack Obama to shorten a visit to Ireland, and raising fears of a repeat of last year?s huge travel disruptions in Europe that stranded millions of passengers.

Britain?s Civil Aviation Authority said it appears that ash from the Grimsvotn (GREEMSH-votn) volcano could reach Scottish airspace early Tuesday and affect other parts of the U.K. and Ireland later in the week.

British Airways suspended all its flights for Tuesday morning between London and Scotland, while Dutch carrier KLM and Easyjet canceled flights to and from Scotland and northern England at the same time. Two domestic airlines also announced flight disruptions.

Still, authorities say they don?t expect the kind of massive grounding of flights that followed last year?s eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland because systems and procedures have been improved since then and the cloud is currently not expected to move over continental Europe.

Pilots unions, however, expressed concerns that the ash could still be dangerous.

Obama, who had been scheduled to spend Monday night in Ireland, was forced to fly to London early because of the ash cloud ? he landed at the capital?s Stansted Airport late Monday. Last year?s Icelandic eruption also forced a change in his schedule then, causing him to cancel a trip to Poland.

Glasgow-based regional airline Loganair canceled 36 Scottish flights scheduled for Tuesday morning, as well as some flights to Birmingham and Belfast. It said its flights between Scottish islands would be unaffected. Another small airline, Eastern Airways, which is based in northern England, also canceled all flights to and from Scotland on Tuesday.

?Our No. 1 priority is to ensure the safety of people both onboard aircraft and on the ground,? said Andrew Haines, chief executive of the CAA. ?We can?t rule out disruption, but the new arrangements that have been put in place since last year?s ash cloud mean the aviation sector is better prepared and will help to reduce any disruption in the event that volcanic ash affects U.K. airspace.?

Many airlines said authorities last year overestimated the danger to planes and overreacted by closing airspace for five days amid fears that the abrasive ash could cause engines to stall.

CAA spokesman Jonathan Nicholson said authorities this time would give airlines information about the location and density of ash clouds. Any airline that wanted to fly would have to present a safety report to aviation authorities in order to be allowed to fly.

He said most British airlines had permission to fly through medium-density ash clouds, but none had asked for permission to fly through high-density clouds, classified as having over 4,000 micrograms of ash per cubic meter.

Even at that concentration of volcanic ash, experts said the air would not look much different from airspace unaffected by the ash, but officials say the tiny particles in the ash can sandblast windows and stop jet engines.

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