Ash closes airports in Spain, Portugal, Italy, straddles trans-Atlantic routes

Ash closes airports in Spain, Portugal, Italy

BRUSSELS — Eurocontrol says it expects further flight disruptions in European airspace as a plume of volcanic ash snakes through southern France, Switzerland and northern Italy.

By Sunday evening it is forecast to cover southern parts of Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria. The ash, stretching from the surface up to 20,000 feet (6,000 meters), has forced the closure of airports through much of northern Italy.

Separately, a finger of the main ash cloud — centered in the mid-Atlantic at altitudes of up to 35,000 feet (10,500 meters) — has reached down to Portugal and Spain, closing airports at Porto, La Coruna, Vigo, and Santiago.

Eurocontrol says trans-Atlantic flights will continue to be diverted northward over Greenland to avoid the cloud stretching from Iceland to the Azores Islands.