'Summer of uncertainty' looms for Irish aviation

Ireland will reopen its airspace Tuesday afternoon because the threat from volcanic ash has faded, but authorities said air travelers to Ireland face a "summer of uncertainty" because of the long-running Icelandic eruption.

The Irish Aviation Authority temporarily grounded services at all Irish airports at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT, 1 a.m. EDT) because shifting winds had pushed volcanic ash plumes into Irish airspace, increasing the risk of damage to jet engines beyond acceptable levels.

Eamonn Brennan, chief executive of the Irish Aviation Authority, said prevailing winds were normally from the south, but they switched to north this week, sending ash about 900 miles (1,500 kilometers) southwest from Iceland to Ireland.

"We remain at risk (of further shutdowns), particularly towards Wednesday," Brennan said in a telephone interview. "We're probably facing a summer of uncertainty because of this ash cloud."

Ireland's temporary shutdown grounded more than 200 flights, most of them operated by airlines Ryanair and Aer Lingus.

Tuesday's ash worries also forced aviation authorities in Northern Ireland, Scotland's outermost Hebrides islands and the Danish territory of the Faeroe Islands to ground flights.

Northern Ireland said it would join the Republic of Ireland in reopening services Tuesday afternoon. But the situation remained unclear in the Hebrides and Faeroes, island systems much nearer Iceland in the North Atlantic.

Ireland became the first country outside of Iceland to shut down its airspace since the April 14-22 crisis caused by billowing ash from Iceland's erupting Eyjafjallajokull (pronounced ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) volcano.

The volcano's plume has risen this week to nearly 5.5 kilometers (18,000 feet) following several large explosions, Iceland's Institute of Earth Sciences said Tuesday, and ash was being blown southeast from the eruption site.

The institute said tremors emanating from the volcano have intensified since Sunday night and the eruption that began April 14 shows no signs of ending.

Among the tens of thousands of inconvenienced fliers was David Cameron, leader of Britain's opposition Conservative Party, who delayed plans to fly into Northern Ireland to seek support there before Thursday's British election.

Cameron said he still planned to make it to the British province later Tuesday.

"We are battling through everything to make this happen," he said.

In Brussels, European Union transport ministers gathered in emergency session Tuesday to seek better coordination within the continent's patchwork of airspaces to avoid airline chaos and commercial losses from Icelandic volcanoes or other natural disasters.

Germany wants binding rules to define ash concentrations and when to keep airports closed.

Airlines and airports, however, complained bitterly that EU uncertainty during the crisis meant too many flights were grounded for too long last month. In all, over 100,000 flights were canceled, affecting 10 million travelers.

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Associated Press Writers Raf Casert in Brussels, Jan Olsen in Copenhagen, and David Stringer and Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.