Ethiopia suspends flights to Sudan and Djibouti due ash cloud
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
June 14, 2011 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopian Airlines has temporarily cancelled some domestic flights and international routes destined to neighboring countries due to an ash cloud from an erupting volcano in Eritrea.
The Dubbi volcano, in southern Eritrea, very close the Ethiopian border, erupted late on Sunday triggering two moderate earthquakes of 5.7 magnitude that could be felt in both countries.
The volcanic eruption is spewing ash clouds as high as 13.5 km into the sky causing disruption to air traffic in the East African region.
The airline’s officials on Tuesday told Sudan Tribune that flights bound to the Sudanese capital Khartoum, and to neighboring Djibouti are temporarily grounded.
Domestic flights to northern part of Ethiopia including to Bahair-Dar, Mekelle and to the tourist attraction Gondor are also suspended.
The France-based Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre’s (VAAC) said today that the eruption is decreasing in strength and the ash cloud is getting less dangerous.
“We can clearly see that the eruption in winding down. There is some remaining activity as ash clouds are still blown in the atmosphere until an altitude of 20,000 feet (6,096 m)” an earth quake report said sourcing the data from VAAC.
However it said “the ash cloud is extending over the Middle East, later today and tomorrow.”
The volcanic ash clouds have forced a number of international airliners to cancel their flights to some destinations in East Africa. German airline, Lufthansa and the Middle East-based Fly Dubai have suspended flights to Addis Ababa.
The Turkish national flag carrier on Tuesday also said it has cancelled its flights from Istanbul-Khartoum, Istanbul-Addis Ababa, Istanbul-Entebbe-Istanbul and Istanbul-Nairobi, and Darussalam-Nairobi-Istanbul.
The Ethiopian airlines urged passengers to check the status of their flights at ticket offices or using telephone numbers.
US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton and her delegation who were supposed to stay in Addis Ababa until Tuesday afternoon for meetings at the African Union were forced to leave last night due fears they could get stuck in Ethiopia.
Twice in the last year volcanic eruptions in Iceland have seriously disrupted northern European air travel.
(ST)