Moving from Iceland towards Russia, the ash cloud has complicated air traffic in northern Europe.
Yesterday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin planned to fly to Murmansk to hold a meeting on the fishing industry, but was forced to postpone his trip due to the still-erupting volcano in the south of Iceland.
"An ash cloud has emerged and complicated air traffic over a considerable part of European territory", said Dmitry Peskov, the prime minister's press secretary. "The volcanic ash could move towards the air corridor leading to Murmansk".
"The prime minister decided to postpone his flight for a day", he added. "Having remained on Thursday in Moscow, he conducted a number of working meetings. We hope that the conditions will be back to normal by Friday and we will be able to fly to Murmansk".
Volcanic ash is capable of seriously damaging aircraft engines.
This is the second eruption of the volcano located near the Eyjafjallajökull Glacier. The last eruption occurred a year ago in March.
Many European countries – the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland and Finland – have closed their airports for operation due to the volcanic eruption. As of the publishing of this issue, it was still unclear when the airports will reopen. This depends on the direction of the wind carrying the ash.
Alexander Gamov
