Several flights have been cancelled on Tuesday after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) instructed airlines to immediately reroute flights and avoid altitudes affected by volcanic ash drifting from a major eruption in northern Ethiopia, as plume forecasts indicated the cloud could pass over parts of western and northern India.
DGCA said the advisory followed the eruption of the Hayli Gubbi volcano in Ethiopia’s Afar region on Sunday, the volcano’s first known eruption in thousands of years. The blast sent ash up to about 14 kilometres (46,000 feet) into the atmosphere, according to satellite assessments.
India Meteorological Department said that ash clouds are drifting towards China and will move away from India by Tuesday evening.
“High-level winds carried the ash cloud from Ethiopia across the Red Sea to Yemen and Oman and further over the Arabian Sea towards western and northern India,” the IMD said in a statement
Most of the ash remained at high altitudes and was unlikely to significantly affect ground-level air quality, though haze and elevated sulfur dioxide levels could briefly impact sensitive groups.
In its notice to operators, the DGCA warned that volcanic ash can severely damage aircraft engines, erode fuselage surfaces and contaminate air systems. Airlines were told to “strictly avoid” the affected airspace, adjust flight paths and fuel planning, and report any suspected ash encounters immediately. The regulator also asked carriers to conduct post-flight inspections for aircraft flying near the ash-affected corridor.
Several airlines, including Air India and Akasa Air, reported precautionary flight cancellations and delays as the cloud drifted across the Arabian Sea. Meteorologists said the plume was expected to pass over Gujarat, Rajasthan and the Delhi region before gradually thinning out by Tuesday evening.
The DGCA said it is monitoring updates from the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre and will issue further instructions if the plume shifts or intensifies.
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