AI cancels all flights to Europe, North America

New Delhi, Apr 17 (PTI) With the volcanic clouds over
the European airspace virtually shutting down global air
traffic, Air India Saturday announced cancellation of flights
to Europe and North America scheduled for Sunday.
Thousands of air travellers, both Indian and foreign,
faced inconvenience at the Delhi and Mumbai airports where
airline or airport officials could not confirm when they would
be able to fly.
Announcing closure of UK airspace till 1900 GMT
Saturday (0030 hours IST Sunday), British air navigation
services NATS in its latest update said, "Current forecasts
show that the situation is worsening throughout Saturday. We
are continuing to look for windows of opportunity to handle
individual flights in UK controlled airspace".
NATS said it would come up with its next update at
0900 GMT.
The major volcanic eruption in Iceland led Air India
to announce suspension of all west-bound flights to Europe,
USA and Canada on April 18, a spokesperson said.
The flights cancelled by the national carrier include
those bound for Paris, London, Frankfurt, Chicago, New York,
Toronto and Newark from Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad and vice
versa.
Air India has given passengers of the cancelled
flights the choice of taking flights at a later date without
any penalty or full refund on cancellation. PTI ARC
DDC