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

An aviation industry source said Delhi airport saw seven international flight cancellations and twelve delays between 1 am and 6 pm on Tuesday owing to the ash cloud drifting eastward

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. 

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. 

Through the day, Delhi airport saw seven international flight cancellations and 12 delays between 1 AM and 6 PM owing to the ash cloud drifting eastward, according to an aviation source. 

In a statement, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said flight operations across India remained smooth with “only a few flights rerouted or descended as a precaution”. 

Air India posted on X (formerly Twitter) that it had cancelled AI 106 (Newark-Delhi), AI 102 (New York-Delhi), AI 2204 (Dubai-Hyderabad), AI 2290 (Doha-Mumbai), AI 2212 (Dubai-Chennai), AI 2250 (Dammam-Mumbai) and AI 2284 (Doha-Delhi) on Monday. For Tuesday, the airline cancelled AI 2822 (Chennai-Mumbai), AI2466 (Hyderabad-Delhi), AI 2444/2445 (Mumbai-Hyderabad-Mumbai) and AI 2471/2472 (Mumbai-Kolkata-Mumbai). 

The airline said its ground teams across the network were keeping passengers updated and providing immediate assistance, including hotel accommodation. AI said it was making "every effort to arrange alternative travel at the earliest", adding that the safety of its passengers and crew members remained its highest priority. 

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) — which manages the ATCs —has issued the necessary notice to airmen (NOTAM) and all affected flights have been kept informed, the civil aviation ministry noted. 

“Operations across India remain smooth, with only a few flights rerouted or descended as a precaution. There is no cause for concern at this moment. We continue to monitor the situation closely and will provide timely updates to ensure passenger safety,” it added. 

On Monday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation had directed airlines to adjust flight planning and fuel intake and to “strictly” avoid ash-affected regions and altitudes.  

In its directive, the aviation regulator had said airlines must ensure that flight crew and aircraft engineers follow the prescribed procedures for operations in and around volcanic ash. “Airlines must maintain continuous monitoring of the situation. Any suspected ash encounter must be immediately reported,” the DGCA had said. 

As for the volcano ash, it had covered parts of Pakistan and northern India after crossing Yemen and Oman on Tuesday, news agencies reported, quoting Flightradar24, a flight tracking website.       

 

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