Ethiopia volcano eruption: Air India and Akasa cancel flights after volcano erupts for first time in 10,000 years - routes to Jeddah, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi affected
Airlines are cancelling flights after a volcano has erupted in Ethiopia.
Indian airlines Air India and Akasa Air said on Tuesday they were cancelling some flights after ash plumes from a volcanic eruption in Ethiopia disrupted operations. Air India said it had cancelled 11 flights on Monday and Tuesday to make precautionary checks on aircraft that had flown over some locations after the eruption, following a directive to airlines from India's aviation regulator.
Smaller airline Akasa said it had scrapped scheduled flights with Middle East destinations such as Jeddah, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi scheduled during the two days. The ash cloud is moving towards China and is expected to clear Indian skies by 1400 GMT Tuesday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement.
Ethiopia's Hayli Gubbi volcano sent ash plumes up to 14 km (8.7 miles) high after erupting on Sunday for the first time in recorded history, according to media reports. On Tuesday, the ash had covered parts of Pakistan and northern India, according to tracking website Flightradar24, after crossing Yemen and Oman.
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The Hayli Gubbi volcano in the Afar region of Ethiopia, located about 800 kilometres (500 miles) northeast of Addis Ababa, erupted for several hours on Sunday morning. It left the nearby village of Afdera covered in ash.
There were no casualties from the eruption. The volcano, which rises about 500 metres in altitude, sits within the Rift Valley, a zone of intense geological activity where two tectonic plates meet.