GOOD NEWS ON ASH.

Finally some respite on the whole 'ash cloud' and no fly zones!!

New rules to allow planes to fly at higher ash densities for a limited time will be introduced at noon, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has said to fly in the ash zone, airlines will need to get agreement from their aircraft and engine manufacturers. The authority's move was welcomed by airlines, regulators and manufacturers after thousands of passengers were stranded by UK airport closures.


Airline chiefs have heavily criticised the earlier no-fly zone system.'Exceptional features'
All flight restrictions have now been lifted, after the volcanic ash cloud over UK airspace moved away, but knock-on disruption continues. Airport operators are advising passengers to check for delays to their flights with airlines.


"The world's top scientists tell us that we must not simply assume the effects of this volcano will be the same as others elsewhere. "Its proximity to the UK, the length of time it is continuously erupting and the weather patterns are all exceptional features.


"The answer can only come, therefore, from aircraft and engine manufacturers establishing what level of ash their products can safely tolerate."


Jim French, chief executive of budget airline Flybe, said he welcomed the move.


Airline criticism. He said the airline had been forced to cancel 381 flights during the past 48 hours but if the new criteria had already been in place, it would have only affected 21 flights. Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said the CAA, aircraft and engine manufacturers and airlines had been working "extremely hard" to "get people flying". Airlines had been calling for the system - which uses Met Office data to set out no-fly zones - to be revised.
British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh has said blanket bans on flying were "a gross over-reaction to a very minor risk" and called for a "much better and more sensible" approach.
Meanwhile Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said reliance on "outdated, inappropriate and imaginary" computer-generated volcano concentration charts was "ridiculous".


On Sunday, Virgin Atlantic president Sir Richard Branson called the closure of Manchester airport "beyond a joke".


The CAA had already raised the density threshold level that forces a flight ban once, following six days of airport closures in April. As it stands, scientists and engineers have agreed a maximum concentration of ash of 0.002g per cubic metre of air, but that will be doubled later for limited flights to 0.004g.

Since the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted last month, throwing huge amounts of ash into the air, thousands of flights have been delayed or cancelled across Europe due to fears that ash could turn into molten glass within a hot jet engine, crippling the aircraft.

The latest UK disruption saw airspace over Northern Ireland close first on Saturday, before the cloud moved south and grounded flights in many parts of the UK on Sunday. On Monday, thousands of passengers were left to rebook their flights or to wait in airports for new departure times..



Air traffic control company Nats said it was "delighted" by the new measures, which meant there were "no predicted restrictions on UK airspace in the immediate future". CAA chief executive Andrew Haines said "unprecedented situations" required "new measures" and the challenge posed by the volcano could not be underestimated.