Global General

Some 100 flights cancelled in Istanbul due to ash cloud

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-20 21:52

ISTANBUL - Turkish national flag carrier company cancelled some 100 international flights on Tuesday due to ash cloud over Europe's airspace caused by Icelandic volcano.

Turkish national airlines THY said that more than 40 flights from Istanbul's International Ataturk Airport to several European cities were canceled.

In addition to cancellations from Istanbul, THY said it also cancelled flights from Ankara's Esenboga Airport, Sabiha Gokcen International Airport and Eskisehir Airport.

Cancelled flights were bound mostly for European cities including Zurich, Munich, Brussels, Milano, Dublin, Cologne, Stockholm, London, Manchester, Prague, Amsterdam, Berlin and Hannover.

THY said there was no cancellations for its flights to many other destinations, especially to southern and eastern Europe, such as Athens, Barcelona, Madrid, Belgrade, Budapest, Bucharest, Tirana, Vienna, Sofia, Odessa, Moscow, St.Petersburg, Lyon and Paris.

Earlier in the day, the semi-official Anatolia news agency quoted Turkish airport operator TAV as saying that a total of 600 international flights had been cancelled at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport between April 15-18 due to the volcanic ash cloud caused by the recent eruption of an Icelandic volcano.

A volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland erupted last Wednesday, for the second time in less than a month, melting ice and shooting smoke into the air and forcing hundreds of people to leave their homes.