Drummer Portfolio

Spain has closed 15 airports as a cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano drifts south over Western Europe.

National airport management agency Aena said nine airports closed early on Saturday and six more shut from 1200 local time (1000 GMT).

The restrictions would be in place until at least 1800, Aena said

Most flights between Europe and North America are being diverted because of the ash cloud's latest drifting, officials at Eurocontrol said.

Flights are being rerouted north and south of the 1,200 mile (2,000km) long cloud.

On average, 600 airliners make the Atlantic crossing every day, correspondents say.

Aena said the airports affected were Bilbao, San Sebastian, Vitoria, Zaragoza, Pamplona, La Rioja, Santiago, La Coruna, Vigo, Asturias, Santander, Leon, Valladolid, Burgos and Salamanca.

Eurocontrol, the agency that co-ordinates aviation safety in Europe, said airports were also expected to close in northern Portugal and parts of southern France.

In the UK, some flights to Spain were being affected.




The volcano has become more active in recent days
At London Stansted, 22 Ryanair flights to the Canary Islands, mainland Spain and Portugal were cancelled, along with three EasyJet flights.

Flights from Gatwick to Portugal, Alicante and Madrid were cancelled and at Heathrow some flights to La Coruna in northern Spain were also grounded.


Last month, thousands of travellers were stranded after ash shut down airspace across Europe.

Recent images have shown activity in the Eyjafjallajokull volcano intensifying.

Experts at the UK's Met Office said it was sending ash up to heights of 30,000 ft (9,100m).

Flights across Ireland and parts of the UK were disrupted earlier this week.










It talks about a new volcanic eruption which extracts ash cloud and because of it there are 15 airports in Spain closed. It's important because plenty of people buy tickets every day to travel arround the world for work, holidays or to visit someone of their family or friends. So if it doesn't work the people can't travel and their money is losed. That's a problem because there could be manifestations about it and probably it would give severe consequences.
It affects me because I'm worried about our travel to Sevilla in June, I wish it doesn't affect us and if it not, we won't do this trip. I hope the ash cloud won't be a problem to travel by plane.