Volcanic clouds: Indian carriers say flights not affected

New Delhi, May 25 (PTI) Indian carriers Wednesday said
their flights have not been affected so far despite the
volcanic clouds from Iceland causing major disruption of air
traffic in Europe.
Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher said that their
flights were flying on schedule but they had directed their
pilots to ensure that aircraft carry extra fuel while flying
to Europe or North America in case they have to divert due to
the clouds.
"We are closely monitoring the situation almost every
few hours. We have asked the pilots (to ensure that planes)
flying to Europe or North America to carry extra fuel in case
of any diversion", an Air India official said.
Same was the response of his counterparts from
Kingfisher and Jet Airways, with all of them saying there has
been no impact of the ash clouds on their flights as yet.
An Air India spokesperson in London said the London-
Mumbai flight (AI 130) left on schedule this morning while two
flights (AI 116 and AI 112) for Delhi were on schedule. All
Air India flights from London were operating from Heathrow
terminal four instead of three.
The three Indian carriers have been asked by the Civil
Aviation Ministry to draw up alternative route plans to and
from North America over the Mediterranean and the Atlantic and
also to Western Europe, official sources said.
The airlines and the Indian authorities have sought
permission for technical halts to pick up and drop passengers
from Athens, Rome, Cairo and airports in unaffected European
cities, they said.
Over 1,000 flights, mostly in the UK, Germany and
Ireland, have been cancelled in the past two days due to the
volcanic eruption in Grimsvoetn and the ash clouds getting
blown over to Scotland and other parts of northern Europe.

Reports from London quoting authorities and experts
said that activity at the Grimsvoetn volcano has stopped and
its flight-halting ash plume has almost disappeared.
Even though some quarters described the flight
cancellations as "a massive over reaction by badly prepared
safety regulators", there has been no blanket ban on flights
as was imposed during eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull
volcano in April last year that left millions stranded.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has
estimated that the "mismanagement" of 2010 volcanic ash crisis
had cost airlines USD 1.8 billion in lost revenues and cost
the global economy as a whole USD five billion.
Meanwhile, BBC reported that air traffic over northern
Germany is returning to normal after being disrupted by
volcanic ash.
Planes were again taking off and landing in Hamburg
and Bremen after they were closed for several hours. Berlin
airports were to reopen later, it reported, adding about 700
flights were cancelled in Germany today.
Airlines, including British Airways, had to axe some
German services as the ash clouds moved over northern Europe.
British Airways had cancelled one London-Hamburg and
two Hamburg-London flights and budget carrier easyJet also
axed some German flights.
Yesterday, airlines grounded about 500 flights after
ash from the Icelandic volcano swept over Britain and towards
northern Europe.