A change in wind direction over the skies of Europe, bringing with it the cloud of ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland, could once again cause disruption for air travellers. Icelandic meteorologists have confirmed that the wind is no longer pushing the volcano’s plume of ash northwards. The wind recently started blowing in a southerly and south-easterly direction, bringing the ash down across the Scottish Isles and Ireland.

Chief executive of the Irish Aviation Authority, Eamon Brennan, said that even though the amounts of ash being thrown out from the volcano have been relatively low, the prevailing wind conditions will mean the closure of some airports. Aer Lingus and Ryanair have confirmed that they have had to cancel a number of flights because the ash cloud has been deemed unsafe to fly in. Aer Lingus said that it hoped to be able to announce that most of its transatlantic flights would be operating later today, even if a little bit delayed.

Brennan said that he thought the cloud would dissipate quite quickly, and that he was optimistic that by tomorrow afternoon things would start to return to normal. He said that he would know more after making another assessment in the morning.

There has been some relief in Dublin that the cloud of ash reappeared today, rather than yesterday. Many said they were not too concerned about travel disruption because at least the bank holiday weekend had gone without a hitch. One woman said that she had just made it back from a long weekend in Spain, although being trapped in Spain wasn’t the worst thing she could imagine.