AI cancels all flights to Europe, North America

Thousands of air travellers, both Indian and foreign, faced inconvenience at the Delhi and Mumbai airports where airline or airport officials could not confirm when they would be able to fly.

Announcing closure of UK airspace till 1900 GMT today (0030 hours IST tomorrow), British air navigation services NATS in its latest update said, "Current forecasts show that the situation is worsening throughout Saturday. We are continuing to look for windows of opportunity to handle individual flights in UK controlled airspace".
NATS said it would come up with its next update at 0900 GMT.

The major volcanic eruption in Iceland led Air India to announce suspension of all west-bound flights to Europe, USA and Canada on April 18, a spokesperson said.
The flights cancelled by the national carrier include those bound for Paris, London, Frankfurt, Chicago, New York, Toronto and Newark from Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad and vice versa.

Air India has given passengers of the cancelled flights the choice of taking flights at a later date without any penalty or full refund on cancellation.

With large number of flights being cancelled, rescheduled or diverted due to restriction of airspace over Europe, the situation at IGI airport became worse as no bays were left in the apron area to park the aircraft.

In a bid to decongest the parking area, DIAL had diverted some incoming international cargo flights to nearby airports.

"The parking bays available at the International cargo apron were then used to park incoming passenger aircraft and passengers were ferried to the terminals by coaches," an airport official said, adding still there was shortage of parking bays.
DIAL has decided to park five wide-bodied planes on the adjoining taxiway, near the runway 28 which is currently being upgraded, after the passengers have disembarked at the terminal, a DIAL official said.