Ash cloud likely to delay more flights

International flights of Jet Airways that operates three flights from Mumbai,Delhi and Chennai to/from Brussels,would also be late,said a spokesperson for Jet Airways.

“The ash clouds resulting from the ongoing volcanic eruption in Iceland may affect the flight schedules over Brussels. As a result,flights to/from New York,Newark,Toronto via Brussels to/from India may be delayed. This is because the aircrafts have to fly longer distances,” the spokesperson said.

On Sunday,the Munich airport was closed for over six hours and reopened around 1 am on Monday morning (Indian time). While many flights were diverted to Frankfurt on Sunday,two Lufthansa flights from India was operating on time on Monday,a Lufthansa spokesperson said.

“A majority of our services are on time,but a few flights have been delayed,particularly over the North Atlantic,” said a British Airways spokesperson. He confirmed that none of the India-bound flights were affected yet.

“Areas of high ash concentration have dispersed overnight over continental Europe. There is an area of ash cloud in the middle of the North Atlantic which delays transatlantic flights. Many flights have to make significant rerouting to avoid the area of ash cloud coverage,and this results in delays,” said Euro Control,European Organisation for Safety of Air Navigation,in a statement.

Eurocontrol said it expected only 28,500 flights within the European area on Monday and it is about 500 below average for a Monday at this time of year.