Turkey ends flight restrictions caused by volcanic ash

Turkey's civil aviation watchdog put an end to flight restrictions in the country's airspace caused by the Icelandic volcanic ash on Monday afternoon.

The restrictions were over as of 4:15 p.m. local time (1415 GMT) as the ash clouds had left Turkey's air space, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement on its website.

The directorate said Sunday the airspace between the flight level 200 and 350 would be closed to flights from 4:30 p.m. local time (1430 GMT) Sunday to 12:00 a.m. (1000 GMT) Monday as the volcanic ash spread to Turkey.

Bus companies organized trips to French cities of Paris and Lyon from the Ataturk International Airport of the Turkish traffic hub Istanbul on Monday after hundreds of flights to and from many European cities were disrupted, local semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano in southeast Iceland began erupting on Wednesday for the second time in a month from below the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, hurling a plume of ash 6 to 11 km into the atmosphere and causing the biggest travel chaos in years in Europe.

Volcanic ash contains tiny particles of glass and pulverized rock that can damage engines and airframes.

Source:Xinhua