A fresh volcanic ash cloud forced British and Irish air traffic authorities to close parts of their airspace on Wednesday, as Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull volcano continued to disrupt European flight paths.

A drifting cloud of ash from the volcano led to flights being halted across most of the continent for almost a week in April.

Britain's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said late on Tuesday that air traffic to and from three airports in Scotland, including Glasgow, would not be allowed as of 6 a.m. GMT Wednesday. The airport in Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital, remained open until midday.

Belfast's airport, in Northern Ireland, was also closed and flights to and from Dublin in the Republic of Ireland were shut down from 10 a.m. The Irish Aviation Authority said all airports in Ireland could be affected by early afternoon.

"Forecasts show that levels of ash in the atmosphere over Scotland and Northern Ireland will exceed the concentrations that engine manufacturers have agreed are safe for operations," the CAA said in a statement.

Ash from Iceland had caused a similar closure in the same areas from Monday until the middle of Tuesday this week.

Both Irish and British authorities fear the volcanic ash, which can damage aircraft engines and instruments when present in large quantities, will spread south during the day, perhaps causing further airport closures in the north of England.

Smaller disruptions

However, the CAA said there was no imminent threat to Britain’s busiest southern airports, like London's Heathrow and Gatwick.

The primary ash cloud from Eyjafjallajoekull's eruption in April brought the majority of European air travel to a standstill for six days, leaving millions of travellers stranded and costing airlines and industry hundreds of millions of euros.

At a meeting on Tuesday, European Union transport ministers agreed the EU should immediately create a unified air traffic group to ensure member states coordinate their reactions to any similar problems in the future, in a bid to minimize disruptions and costs.

msh/AFP/dpa
Editor: Chuck Penfold