冰岛一座冰川火山喷发的浓厚烟尘迫使欧洲北部大部分国家关闭机场、延迟并取消航班。
英国官员星期四取消了所有非紧急航班，包括伦敦希思罗机场进出的航班。希思罗机场是欧洲最繁忙的机场，每天平均接待1200次航班和18万乘客。希思罗机场在官方网站上发布声明说，有关官员尚未决定星期五早上是否恢复航班。
另外爱尔兰、丹麦、挪威、瑞典和芬兰当局也都停止了空中交通。浓厚的烟尘还导致法国、比利时、荷兰和瑞士的许多航班延迟或取消。美国当局说，一些从美国东部飞往欧洲的航班受到影响。当局警告说，火山灰除了降低能见度之外，还含有玻璃微粒，可以导致飞机引擎故障。
A huge cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland has forced authorities to shut down air travel across much of northern Europe, with delays and cancelations spreading quickly.
Officials in Britain Thursday canceled all non-emergency flights, including those to and from London’s Heathrow Airport. Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, averages about 1,200 flights and 180,000 passengers a day.A statement on Heathrow’s Internet site said officials had yet to decide whether to allow flights to resume Friday morning.
Authorities in Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland also have stopped all air traffic. The massive plume is also causing delays and additional cancelations in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland. U.S. authorities say some outbound traffic from the eastern United States also has been disrupted. In addition to reducing visibility, authorities warn that volcanic ash contains small particles of glass that cause jet engines to malfunction.