Hundreds of flights hit as ash reaches Britain

Airlines grounded hundreds of flights Tuesday after a plume of ash from a volcano in Iceland blanketed Britain and touched Scandinavia in a fresh travel nightmare for thousands of passengers. Barely a year after a similar eruption in Iceland forced the biggest closure of European airspace since World War II, British Airways was the first to suspend flights from London to Scotland.
Dutch airline KLM, Ireland's Aer Lingus and budget airline easyJet followed suit, while air traffic authorities warned disruption from the Grimsvoetn volcano could spread to airports in northern England and Northern Ireland. "Most airlines have cancelled flights today -- 252 flights," said Brian Flynn, head of operations at the Brussels-based Eurocontrol.   link