Ireland shut several of its airports and Britain imposed a no-fly zone on parts of its airspace on Sunday as another cloud of ash from a volcano in Iceland looked set to disrupt European air travel again. The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said three north-western airports were closed from early Sunday and hub Dublin would shut from 1800 GMT until at least 0800 GMT on Monday morning.
North Atlantic overflights through Irish-controlled airspace remain unaffected despite the cloud drifting over the country. Cork and Kerry, as well as Shannon - an important stopover for flights to the United States - remain open until further notice.
Ash spewed from the same volcano in Iceland wreaked havoc on European air traffic last month. "The outlook (for) later tomorrow looks better, I wouldn't be too optimistic for the early part of the day but the later part of the day looks better and as the week goes on, it should improve," IAA Chief Executive Eamon Brennan told national broadcaster RTE.
Western airports Sligo, Donegal and Ireland West (Knock), shut earlier on Sunday, will remain closed until 1100 GMT.
Britain's National Air Traffic Service said earlier a no-fly zone would be imposed over parts of Scotland and England between 1200 GMT and 1800 GMT on Sunday due to the volcanic ash but London airports will not be affected. Manchester, Liverpool, Doncaster, Carlisle, Humberside and East Midlands airports fall within the no-fly zone, as do all airports in Northern Ireland, NATS said. Airports in parts of Scotland and the Isle of Man will also be affected.
The government has warned that parts of British airspace might have to close until Tuesday with different parts including the south-east, where Europe's busiest airport Heathrow is located, likely to be closed at different times.
Elsewhere in Europe, German airlines' association said no restriction of German air traffic was expected due to the ash.