Air travel in Europe might not get back to normal for weeks or even months after a volcano erupted in Iceland, an expert on the Euronews TV-channel said.
The eruption of a volcano on the Eyjafjallajokull Glacier in Iceland, which began on Wednesday, has already paralyzed air traffic in the U.K., France, Germany, Belgium Latvia, Ireland and the majority of Nordic countries.
"This eruption may stop tomorrow, but it may continue to disrupt air traffic for weeks or months," Professor of Geophysics at the University of Iceland, Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson, said.
On Friday, Austria and Poland have also suspended their air traffic due to ash clouds from the volcanic eruption.
Sunday's funeral of the late Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria, who were killed in a plane crash last week, could be delayed as ash clouds from the volcanic eruption might prevent other world leaders from coming to pay their last respects.
The ash cloud is also moving towards Russia's northern city of St. Petersburg. The Russian Emergencies Ministry said that the ash from the eruption does not pose a health risk.
On Thursday, the president of the environmental organization Green Cross Russia and member of the Russian Academy of Natural Science, Sergei Baranovsky said the eruption of the volcano would not lead to an ecological catastrophe. However, he added that it was hard to predict how long the eruption would last.
Clouds of ash are moving in a southeast direction and may soon reach the Baltic region.
Experts explained that particles of rock, glass or sand could jam an aircraft's engines causing engine failures, damaging the fuselage and seriously reducing visibility.
The tiny particles usually travel at altitudes which coincide with the flight patterns of the majority of commercial jetliners (from 22,000 to 55,000 feet).
About 20,000 flights take place in Europe every day.
MOSCOW, April 16 (RIA Novosti)
