Airlines on alert for ashclouds if Iceland volcano erupts
Carriers watching for eruption, fearing repeat of 2010, when 100, 000 flights had to be cancelled
Airlines are on alert as one of Iceland's biggest volcanoes rumbles to life, threatening ash clouds that could force flight cancellations across the North Atlantic, the busiest international travel market.
Air France, Lufthansa and Delta Air Lines are among carriers watching the Bardarbunga volcano for an eruption, the latest in a series of actual or potential hazards to interfere with commercial air routes. Iceland's Civil Protection Agency began evacuating the area north of the volcano on Tuesday.
The seismic activity raised concern that airlines may face a repeat of the 2010 disruptions when a cloud belched from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano forced carriers to erase more than 100,000 flights and caused about US$1.7 billion in lost revenue.
Ash is a menace to jetliners because the glass-like particles can damage engines by melting and congealing inside them.`
"If the volcano erupts - which we don't know - how explosive or non-explosive the eruption is depends entirely on where the magma reaches the surface," Melissa Anne Pfeffer, atmospheric volcanologist at the Icelandic Met Office, said. Bardarbunga lies beneath Vatnajokull, Europe's largest glacier.
Molten rock bubbling up under the icecap would create "a more explosive eruption", with the mix of high heat and a sudden meltdown of frozen water, than one occurring in the open, Pfeffer said. Northern European air traffic would be affected if Tuesday's winds continued during an eruption, she said.