The threat of continued disruption to air passengers over parts of northern Europe remains despite indications the Grímsvötn volcano in Iceland, which erupted on Saturday, has ceased spewing ash into the air.
Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said today there will be no impact on Irish airspace for at least the next 48 hours due to ash from the volcano. However, Met Éireann has said northerly winds later in the week may increase the chances of disruption.
The authority said restrictions in other European countries could affect flights today. Passengers were being advised to check the status of the airports they were travelling to.
Flights to and from parts of Germany were cancelled this morning but resumed this afternoon as the amount of ash in the air was dissipating.
Hrafn Gudmundsson, a meteorologist at the Icelandic Met Office, said there were indications that the eruption was ceasing. "There's no plume detected since 3am GMT and the last plume was around 2.10am and since then there seems to be mainly steam coming from the crater," he said.
Icelandic president Olafur Grimsson said the volcano "seems to be calming down".
"The eruption is gradually being diminished and the ash cloud is definitely smaller than it has been," he told the BBC.
British transport secretary Phillip Hammond said that Britain was bracing for possible further disruption. "It (the ash cloud) is expected to come back in our direction for the end of the week," he told Sky News today.
Last night, the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in London said there was a strong possibility the ash cloud could affect parts of Denmark, southern Norway and southwest Sweden today, with possible disruption to flights in to and out of these countries.
However, it was northern Germany that was hit hardest today with Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen airports cancelling takeoffs and landings this morning.
European air traffic management agency Eurocontrol earlier said that as many 700 flights could be cancelled as a result of the ash cloud, up from 500 yesterday.
Aer Lingus and Ryanair said last night they expected all of their services to operate today, although a 1.20pm Ryanair flight from Dublin to Berlin was cancelled.
Met Éireann meteorologist Michelle Dillon described the picture over the coming days as “dynamic”, saying that changing winds and activity at the Icelandic volcano could move greater levels of ash particles over Ireland from the second half of tomorrow and into Friday.
She said a westerly airflow had largely kept volcanic material away from Ireland so far but that a low-pressure band moving in from the Atlantic could bring northerly winds later in the week which would increase the chances of disruption in Irish airspace.
Advance Met Éireann forecasts said northerly winds would increase from fresh to strong, possibly reaching gale force near western coasts tomorrow.
About 60 Ryanair and Aer Lingus flights were cancelled yesterday as a result of the closure of Scottish airspace and some 1,000 passengers travelling from Ireland were affected.
Ryanair objected to the decision to close the three Scottish airports. Its chief executive Michael O’Leary said the airline had flown an aircraft through the area of high concentration, or red zone, over Scotland and found no trace of volcanic ash.
This was disputed by Mr Hammond last night. He said that radar track information suggested the Ryanair flight had not actually entered the “red zone” and that the airline had only confirmed what the authorities in Britain already knew, which was that “there was no ash in the areas where that aircraft flew”.
Last year, the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland resulted in severe disruption to air travel in Europe, including the cancellation of 100,000 flights.