NEW DELHI: Indian airlines Air India and Akasa Air announced on Tuesday that they had cancelled several flights after ash plumes from a volcanic eruption in Ethiopia disrupted regional air operations.
Air India said it cancelled 11 flights on Monday and Tuesday, reports Reuters. The airline noted that the cancellations were made to conduct precautionary checks on aircraft that had flown over locations affected by the volcanic ash, following a directive issued by India’s aviation regulator. Smaller carrier Akasa Air also suspended services, cancelling scheduled flights to Middle East destinations including Jeddah, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi over the same two-day period.
Ethiopia’s Hayli Gubbi volcano erupted on Sunday, sending ash plumes up to 14 km (8.7 miles) high, according to media reports. This marks the volcano’s first eruption in recorded history.
By Tuesday, ash from the eruption had spread across parts of Pakistan and northern India, after moving over Yemen and Oman, according to tracking data from Flightradar24.
