Air travel disrupted by Iceland volcano ash

Thousands of passengers in the northern Celtic nations affected by the Icelandic volcano ash cloud.

Thousands of passengers in the northern Celtic nations affected by the Icelandic volcano ash cloud.

Iceland's most active volcano, Grímsvötn, caused disruption to air travel in North-Western Europe between 22–25 May 2011.

Scotland was the worst hit of the Celtic nations as the cloud of volcanic ash closed all Scottish airports on 24 May.

Although the Republic of Ireland’s airspace was not directly affected by the ash, a number of European destinations including flights to and from Scotland, Germany and Scandinavia were affected and services had to be cancelled. The threat of air travel disruption cut US President Barack Obama's state visit to Ireland a day short.

Airports affected by knock-on effects of cancelled services included Wales' Cardiff airport, which also had a number of inbound and outbound flights cancelled.

Last year, ash clouds from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption led to the largest closure of European airspace for over half a century. Over 10 million passengers were left stranded and the business lost billions of Euro.