UK Airspace May Start Opening Tomorrow

[brooklynite]

Source: Sky News

Sky sources understand plans are in place to open airspace in Scotland at 0600 (1 AM Eastern), the Midlands at 1200 and southern UK at 1800 on Tuesday.

It's understood that UK airports will then be allowed to conduct operations 24 hours a day until the flight situation returns to normal.

It follows a dramatic reduction in the ash being thrown up by the Icelandic volcano.

The Met Office has confirmed that: "eruption has virtually ceased with only small amounts of ash up to 6000 feet."

Read more: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Volcanic-Ash-Sky-Sources-Understand-British-Airspace-Is-To-Start-Opening-From-0600-On-Tuesday/Article/201004315608774?lpos=UK_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15608774_Volcanic_Ash%3A_Sky_Sources_Understand_

---

My wife's business trip to Belgium has been canceled in anticipation that European airports won't re-open in time, or that there'll be a relapse once people are there. Don't expect there'll be a problem finding people for the seats.

[Windy]

1. My son is going to South Africa on an internship on April 30. He is routed through Schipol

in Amsterdam. We are on pins and needles!!!!!!

[brooklynite]

2. UK AIr Traffic Control (NATS) confirms airspace opening tomorrow...

London is still conditional however

[dipsydoodle]

3. 24 hours a day ?

No chance. There are flight restrictions at LHR with regard to hours due to noise pollution. No landings 2330-0600hrs local time broadly speaking. If flights in from the USA arrive early due to the jet stream whatever they're stacked and then landed in order after 6am.

[zipplewrath]

4. May be making an exception

I noticed that bit, and it said something about until things return to normal. I suspect their intent is to allow extra flights for a bit until they get the stranded folks back home.

[dipsydoodle]

5. They're not a position to make that exception

and given the current opposition to yet another runway at Heathrow I don't think they'd dare do it for fear of further strengthening that opposition.

[zipplewrath]

6. I'm no UK legal expert

But I'd bet there's someone empowered to make that exception.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

8. I don't think anyone cares what "Plane Stupid" has to say at the moment,

[dipsydoodle]

12. Not Plane Stupid - other groups

From 26 March 2010 :

The government's plans for a third runway at Heathrow were dealt a blow today after a high court judge agreed with campaigners that climate change threats had not been taken seriously enough.

In a complex judgment, Lord Justice Carnwath declined to quash the controversial planning proposal but branded the original position adopted in the government's authorisation as untenable.

The judge ordered Whitehall officials to give a formal undertaking that they would carry out a further policy review.

The lengthy judgment was hailed as a victory by both the transport department and the coalition of local councils, green groups and residents who had gone to the courts objecting to the plans for a third runway, saying it was inconsistent with government targets to cut carbon emissions.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/26/heathrow-third-runway-travel-and-transport

[Cal Carpenter]

9. What about the fear of leaving stranded Brits all over the world?

Plan for Heathrow night flights to clear Iceland volcano backlog

24-hour operation being considered to handle 400,000 Britons flying home as UK airspace reopens


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/19/heathrow-relaxing-night-flight-restrictions


---snip---
The government is considering relaxing night flight restrictions at Heathrow airport while airlines bring home hundreds of thousands of passengers who were stranded by the Iceland volcano eruption.

Britain's airspace is expected to begin opening tomorrow and it is understood ministers may allow a 24-hour operation at the UK's largest airport.
---snip---

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

7. I am supposed to go to Toulouse next week

For the moment the Toulouse airport is still open, but the flight path itself isn't - we are trying to arrange for a charter to fly us a more southerly "scenic route" over the mid-atlantic since we can't count on Air France LAX-CDG to be operating.

Pain in the ass and fucking expensive,

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Not so fast - eruption has strengthened again, and a new ash cloud is appearing

Statement on Icelandic volcanic eruption: Monday April 19, 2200

Since our last statement at 1530 today, the volcano eruption in Iceland has strengthened and a new ash cloud is spreading south and east towards the UK. This demonstrates the dynamic and rapidly changing conditions in which we are working.

Latest information from the Met Office shows that the situation is worsening in some areas. Based on this information, the situation for Northern Irish airports for the morning is uncertain, due to the new ash cloud. The latest information shows that Scottish airports should be available from 0700 and more airspace over England may become available from 1300 although not as far south as the main London airports.

We will continue to monitor Met Office information and the situation is likely to change overnight. We will make a further statement at approximately 0300 (local time), tomorrow, Tuesday 20 April and again at 0900 (local time).

http://www.nats.co.uk/

Just issued, and on the BBC news ticker.

[dipsydoodle]

13. BBC - New volcano ash cloud prompts fresh flight doubts

A new ash cloud spreading towards the UK is causing uncertainty over plans to reopen some airspace on Tuesday, air traffic control body Nats has said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8631144.stm

Hadn't realised it was puffing again - been watching Joanna Lumley "up the Nile" in the Sudan.

[Ghost Dog]

11. EU nations agree to ease flight restrictions from Tuesday

19 April 2010, 20:26 CET (BRUSSELS) - European transport ministers agreed to ease, from Tuesday, restrictions on flights imposed due to the ash cloud emanating from an Icelandic volcano, the European Commission announced.

"From tomorrow morning on, we should progressively see more planes start to fly," EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas told reporters after lengthy videoconference talks between European transport ministers.

"There cannot be any compromise on safety. All the decisions must be based on scientific evidence and expert analysis," he added, as European airlines and passengers endured a fifth day of flight cancellations.

The announcement was made simultaneously in Brussels and Madrid, where the Spanish Transport Minister Jose Blanco, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said that flights would be allowed "where the concentration of dust particles is reduced from 8:00 am tomorrow (0600 GMT Tuesday)."

The Irish Aviation Authority said in a statement that "in low contaminated areas, states should allow airlines to operate, fully supported by shared data, including advice from the scientific community."

A "limited no-fly zone," including buffer areas around areas where the volcanic ash makes flights hazardous, will be maintained, the Irish authority said.

In areas where there was no contamination there would be no restrictions, it added, saying "normal operations are not expected to be in place for up to three or four days."

Separately Britain, France and others announced that they would begin lifting their flight bans from Tuesday.

/... http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/iceland-volcano.473