Keflavík International Airport was open for business as of 8 am this morning. Reykjavík Domestic Airport is also open, while the airports in Akureyri and Egilsstadir remain closed for now—the situation will be reassessed later today.
Keflavík International Airport. Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.
All of the country’s international airports were closed late last night because of the ash from the Grímsvötn eruption, ruv.is reports.
The decision was made by Isavia, the Icelandic aviation authority, based on the ash distribution forecast from the British Meteorological Office, made in collaboration with the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
The ash that has been causing disturbances to air traffic has traveled from Iceland to Greenland and back, according to Hjördís Gudmundsdóttir, information officer at Isavia.
In other words, it’s “old” ash, as Gudmundsdóttir described to RÚV: no new ash is being emitted by the volcano, at least no ash that falls outside Vatnajökull glacier.
The ash plume had dropped from 24 kilometers while it was at its height to three or five kilometers yesterday and last night no ash could be seen being emitted from the crater, only steam.
The Ring Road between Vík and Freysnes (Skaftafell) was reopened last night.
However, even though it looks as if the eruption is coming to an end and air traffic is resuming in most parts of northern Europe, German authorities have decided to cancel flights today because of the ash in the upper atmosphere, ruv.is reports.
This applies to passenger aircraft that were scheduled to pass through airports in Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg. Eurocontrol also believes disturbances may be caused to flights in Poland today.
The ash could also extend over the Czech airspace but by that time it will likely have thinned out so much that it won’t disrupt aviation.
Eurocontrol estimates that approximately 500 flights of the 29,000 thousand that were scheduled in Europe yesterday were canceled because of the ash from Grímsvötn.
Click here for general information about the eruption in Grímsvötn from Promote Iceland.
Please note: The next issue of the print edition of Iceland Review will include extensive coverage of the eruption. If you subscribe now, you will receive a photo book by IR editor/photographer Páll Stefánsson of the eruption in Eyjafjallajökull as a gift.
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