AI, Kingfisher cancel London-bound flights due to volcanic ash

Mumbai, May 17 (PTI) Air India on Monday cancelled two
London-bound flights while Kingfisher cancelled all its
flights to Heathrow after drifting volcanic ash from Iceland
forced closure of two European airports.
Air India did not operate its Mumbai-London and New
Delhi-London flight. However, its Amritsar-London-Toronto
flight is scheduled to take off at 3:30 pm, an AI spokesperson
said.
Private carrier Kingfisher cancelled all its flights
to London.
"Having assessed the current information received from
Eurocontrol, and the trends indicating anticipated closure of
the airspace over London Heathrow airport due to fresh
contamination of volcanic ash, Kingfisher Airlines has
cancelled its flights to and from London airport on May 17,"
its spokesperson told PTI here.
The airline, however, said that since the situation
was dynamic and changing, it would take a call on its London
flights for Tuesday later.
Jet Airways said that all its flights to London were
on schedule.
The airspace over London's Heathrow Airport and
Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, Europe's another biggest air
travel hubs, closed this morning as a dense cloud of volcanic
ash drifted from Iceland.
The restrictions affecting Heathrow -- as well as
Gatwick, Stansted and London City airports -- will be in place
until at least 7 a m local time (1130 IST), the aviation
authority said.(MORE) PTI