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The Icelandic authorities said that as of 8:30 a.m. local time, Reykjavík-Keflavik International Airport was closed to all inbound and outbound air traffic.
"The ash is covering up all of Iceland,” said Hjordís Gudmundsdottir, a spokeswoman for Isavia, Iceland’s air navigation services provider. "We are trying to identify some holes in it and to use them to allow some flights, but it’s not looking very good right now.”
Overnight, Iceland’s civil protection agency said it had imposed a no-fly zone of 120 nautical miles around the Grimsvötn volcano in southeast Iceland.
Meteorologists said the prevailing winds were expected to blow the volcanic ash in a generally westward direction through the rest of this week — most likely avoiding a repeat of the widespread shutdowns of European airports that grounded more than 100,000 flights in April and May 2010.
Eurocontrol, the Brussels-based agency that coordinates air traffic management across the region, said it was monitoring the situation but it appeared there would be no wider threat to trans-Atlantic or European air travel at least for the next 24 hours.
Ms. Gudmundsdottir of Isavia said Iceland’s aviation authorities planned an update on the situation at around noon. For the time being, Iceland’s three other international airports remained open, she said.Iceland officials said roughly 30 flight arrivals and departures had originally been scheduled at Keflavik airport on Sunday.Iceland’s Met Office weather agency reported heavy ash fall near the volcano itself.
Grimsvötn, a volcano of 1,725 meters, is located beneath an uninhabited icecap, Vatnajokull, in southeast Iceland.
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