Ethiopia volcano ash disrupts many flights, govt says no cause for concern

Ethiopian volcano ash continued to impact the airspace on Tuesday, with several flight cancellations, rerouting, and delays. Aviation authorities in the country, however, assured fliers that there was no cause for concern at the moment, adding there was seamless coordination between air traffic controllers, India Meteorological Department, airlines, and international aviation agencies.

- DEEPAK PATEL

Air India had to cancel some 13 flights, including on international routes, since Monday as it was carrying out precautionary checks on aircraft that flew over regions potentially affected by volcanic ash from Ethiopia. Akasa also said it had cancelled some scheduled flights to destinations in West Asia. IndiGo's Kannur-Abu Dhabi flight 6E1433 was diverted to Ahmedabad on Monday due to the ash cloud.

Hayli Gubbi volcano, located in Ethiopia's Afar Rift, erupted on Sunday for the first time in more than 10,000 years, spewing a dense ash plume up to 45,000 feet. The cloud drifted northeast at 100-120 kilometre per hour (kmph), and entered the Indian airspace on Monday evening.

On Tuesday afternoon, the IMD said in a statement that the ash cloud was moving towards China. The cloud was expected to move out of the Indian skies by late evening.