Sixth day of chaos for Gulf-UK flights

Etihad Airways said it had also cancelled early Tuesday flights to London, Paris, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Brussels, Manchester and Munich.

Emirates Airline cancelled a further eight flights to the UK on Tuesday as the impact of the Icelandic ash cloud entered its sixth day.

The Dubai carrier grounded its 2.30am, 7.45am and 9.50am services to London Heathrow while the 2.50am flight to Gatwick had also been cancelled.

Morning flights to Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow have also been grounded, the airline's website said.

Etihad Airways said it had also cancelled early Tuesday flights to London, Paris, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Brussels, Manchester and Munich, scheduled to leave or arrive at Abu Dhabi.

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Qatar Airways said its Tuesday morning services to London Heathrow, Munich, Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin, London Gatwick and Copenhagen had been grounded.

Bahrain's Gulf Air said it was resuming its flights to London, Paris and Frankfurt, scheduled to leave the Gulf state later on Tuesday.

The airline added: "We hope to resume our full operations to and from these stations by Wednesday April 21, however this be subject to the full and permanent opening of airspace."

The National Air Traffic Services in the UK said latest information showed that Scottish airports should be available from 7am (10am UAE) on Tuesday and more airspace over England may become available from 1pm (4pm UAE) although not as far south as the main London airports.

"Since our last statement, the volcano eruption in Iceland has strengthened and a new ash cloud is spreading south and east towards the UK. This demonstrates the dynamic and rapidly changing conditions in which we are working," it said in a statement issed in the early hours of Tuesday.

Etihad Airways said its flight cancellations remained in place to destinations in Europe and the UK until further notice.

Etihad CEO James Hogan said the situation was changing often.

“We regret the ongoing inconvenience to our passengers, but once restrictions lift, we will do everything in our power to have all Etihad passengers flying without delay,” he said.

On Sunday, Emirates Airline said the disruption caused by the Icelandic volcano eruption was costing the carrier about $10m a day.

The airline said it is losing revenue from 18,000 passengers a day as airspace across the UK and much of Europe remains closed. Around 30 Emirates aircraft are grounded, equivalent to one fifth of the fleet, the statement said.

To date, over 80,000 passengers have been impacted by the ongoing disruption, it added, and more than 250 flights had been grounded.