Europe’s Airspace Could Remain Hamstrung through the Week

The ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano is continuing to cripple air travel across Europe, and weather experts say the situation may not change until at least the end of the week.

Ryanair has cancelled all Irish flights till Wednesday, while Aer Lingus has cancelled all flights today, except from one flight from Washington to Madrid.

Over the weekend, international travel was affected by the ash cloud that covered the sky. British Airways canceled flights to and form London airports on Sunday. The UK’s air traffic agency even went as far as to extend restrictions on UK controlled airspace over most of the weekend.

There were thousands of flights canceled on Saturday. European air traffic officials said that 5,000 flights took place instead of the customary 22,000. About 10,400 flights took place in Europe on Friday. This number is being compared to the normal 28,000.

People saw restrictions pop up on civil flights in 23 countries across most of northern and central Europe. This included Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, the Netherlands, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

The eruption itself began on March 20 beneath the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in southern Iceland. This blew a hole in the ice. This just went on to worsen during the week forcing local evacuations and eventually affecting European airspace.

Just this past Saturday, many airlines like American Airlines and Continental Airlines sliced international flights. About 600 transatlantic flights take place every day, or 300 in each direction. Of the 300 flights that would usually arrive in Europe, only 75 flights arrived in Europe on Saturday morning.

Iceland's volcanic eruption is expected to cost the world's airlines up to $2 billion, according to analysts.