Iceland volcano: the impact of the ash cloud on Britain

How the cloud of volcanic ash is affecting British life and economic activity
Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano
The Eyjafjallajokull volcano pumps ash into the sky. Photograph: Jon Gustafsson/AP

Air travel

British Airways will have no flights in or out of the UK tomorrow. Much of Ryanair's network, including all flights in and out of the UK, will be closed until at least 1pm tomorrow . Flybe has scrapped all services tomorrow, too. BMI will run no Heathrow services tomorrow.

The daily cost to the global airline industry is estimated at £130m a day in lost revenue alone. To that must be added costs of re-routing aircraft and care of stranded aircraft and passengers.

Some airlines are running test flights without passengers. Dutch carrier KLM said there were "no irregularities" from a flight on Saturday. RAF aircraft are only flying for essential missions such as search and rescue and defence of British airspace. The MoD is considering flying soldiers wounded in Afghanistan to coalition partners if the ash cloud continues to rule out flights home to Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham.

Economy and tourism

The impact will be limited, even if the problem lasts several more days, according to Howard Archer, chief economist of IHS Global Insight. "Obviously, the longer that the problem does persist, the more serious will be the economic repercussions," he said.


"This will offset at least some of the loss of revenue to hotels and restaurants from people not being able to get here," Archer said.

Food and other supplies

Less than 2% of food supplies from abroad arrive by air so at the moment the effect is limited. A spokesman for the British Retail Consortium said there could be shortages of exotic fresh foods, but added: "The vast majority of fresh food sold in the UK is sourced in the UK, and a very small proportion is air-freighted in.

"The majority of non-food goods also tends to be shipped in because it is cheaper. Our members are monitoring the situation but so far it has not had a material impact."

Flower exporters in Kenya say they are losing up to £1.3m.


"We are monitoring the situation closely," said the Department for Children, Schools and Families in England. "Schools have contingency plans in place and headteachers are best placed to decide how to cover for absent staff effectively and support pupils forced to miss classes in catching up quickly."


"It is a matter for individual universities. Our advice to students is get in touch with their university as soon as possible to discuss their situation and ask for advice," said Universities UK.


Fulham and Liverpool football clubs are looking at other means of transport for their semi-final matches in Hamburg, Germany, and Madrid, Spain, on Thursday. The Fulham manager, Roy Hodgson, said yesterday the club had been in contact with European soccer's governing body.

"One of Uefa's concerns is that it should be fair and that their opponents don't have to go through hell and high water to get to the game. An ideal scenario would be that the volcanic ash clears up and we can fly over to Germany.

"It's totally and utterly linked to if there are flights. If there are no flights then the only option is to get a train and bus to Hamburg. There could still be a further problem because there might be no trains or coaches to travel on but I'm confident Uefa will resolve the problem."

Organisers of next Sunday's Virgin London marathon were investigating alternative methods of transport for 30-40 international elite entrants.

Formula One teams faced delays leaving China, where the grand prix was won today by Jenson Button. There were concerns about getting the cars back to home factories to prepare for the Spanish round in Barcelona on 9 May.

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