Virgin boss, Sir Richard Branson, has called the latest closures of airspace above the UK, a joke, and has asked the government to intervene and lift the restrictions.

The latest no-fly zones have been put into place because the ash spewing out of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland has once again been blown across Britain.

No-fly zones were created by air traffic controllers in the north of England over areas such as Doncaster, Carlisle, Liverpool and Manchester. Some airports in Scotland and Northern Ireland were also affected. Branson said that he thought the closure of air space over Manchester was not amusing. He pointed out that test flights had proven that there was no danger to aircraft or their engines.

He added that French air traffic controllers had allowed around 1,000 flights to take off in exactly the same conditions as were being experienced in Manchester, and none of them had come to any harm. He went on to say that he was well aware that flying above an erupting volcano might not be the most sensible idea, but that the volcano was hundreds of miles away from Manchester.

The Civil Aviation Authority has said that restrictions on flying over certain areas would remain in place, and regular assessments of the situation would be made. The London airports, as well as Birmingham and Norwich have been added to the no-fly zone.

Mr Branson said that he wanted the country’s leaders to step so that the UK’s economy did not suffer further due to unnecessary flight disruption.