Interrupted

The global air travel chaos from Iceland’s volcano

The travel chaos and dislocation for millions of passengers caused by the ash cloud from the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano in April sent shockwaves around the world and shudders through airline boardrooms and no doubt in the corridors of political power.

Just one small eruption closed down Europe’s airspace for four days as scientists and meteorologists grappled with the danger of the cloud to aircraft against a background of limited industry consensus on the issue.