Flights operating again as ash cloud drifts out of Scottish airspace

Flights in and out of Shetland will operate as normal today after the high density ash cloud which caused the cancellation of services on Monday and yesterday moved east.

The 7.40am Loganair/Flybe flights from Sumburgh and Kirkwall to Edinburgh were cancelled because of the disruption to crew and aircraft working patterns.

However Loganair said all other flights, including the Shetland to Bergen link, would be back to normal and predicted UK airspace would remain clear of high density volcanic ash from the Grimsvötn volcano in Iceland for the remainder of the week.

A spokesman said: “Some areas of low density ash may occur but we have every confidence that we will maintain normal flight operations using procedures specifically devised to enable our aircraft to continue to operate safely under such conditions.

“As a precaution, we do recommend that you check the website for any further updates before setting out for the airport.”

The Flybe Customer Call Centre can be contacted on 0871 700 2000. The Loganair Air Discount Scheme Reservations and Helpline is on 0844 800 2855.

The flight cancellations have come despite the relaxation of restrictions following last year’s flight chaos caused by the Eyjafjall­ajokull volcano. Planes are now allowed to fly through anything up to medium density ash.

Until the new rules came in there were about nine days of flight groundings in the UK during April and May last year as the ash cloud drifted in and out of UK airspace.

The Grimsvötn volcano began erupting on Saturday evening, just over 13 months on from the much bigger eruption of Eyjafjall­ajokull.