Flights in North East remain grounded

Flights in North East remain grounded

 

Flights in north-east England remain suspended as volcanic ash from an eruption in Iceland continues to pose a danger to aircraft.

Air traffic control body Nats has said restrictions will remain in place until at least 0100 BST on Tuesday.
Newcastle Airport said hundreds of its flights had been cancelled, affecting tens of thousands of people.
Passengers flying from Newcastle or Durham Tees Valley should contact the airports' websites for updates.
Nats said the movement of the layers of volcanic ash over the UK remained "dynamic".
It said it would continue to monitor Met Office information and review arrangements accordingly.
The grounding of aircraft began on Thursday morning because of the danger the ash poses to aircraft.
Tiny particles of rock, glass and sand in the cloud could damage engines.

Schoolgirl Fran Welsh is stranded in Beijing

Graeme Mason, Newcastle Airport's head of planning and corporate affairs, said: "Over 350 flights have so far been cancelled, affecting 35,000 people's travel plans, and meaning businesses can't get people to key meetings around the world.
"On top of this are the effects on air freight and postal distribution.
"A region like ours is especially reliant upon air connections and, while there are alternative surface modes available for some journeys, these cannot replace the critical role played by air."
People from the region have been forced to find alternative routes back to the UK.
Beth Davidson is in charge of 15 fencers from Durham, aged between 10 and 14. They have been stranded in Beijing and were due to fly back to the UK on 15 April.
She said: "We've been going to the airport nearly every day to try and find a slot sooner than the one they've given us. We have a flight in theory secured on 4 May.
'Absolutely frantic'
"The cost of changing our flights will be enormous, it's about £1,000 per person per ticket."
She added: "A number of the children are out here without their family."
Julie Welsh's 13-year-old daughter Fran is among the group. She said: "Understandably, we've all been absolutely frantic."
Elliot Husband, 16, from County Durham, is stranded in Malta with 43 members of Billingham Rugby Club.
He said: "It's just mayhem really. I'll miss a week of school. We had a county cup final scheduled for Sunday and we missed that."
It is hoped that everyone in the group will have returned home by Monday 26 April.

North Sea ferry 'fast-tracked'

Alan Muirhead's son Craig was on holiday with his wife in Tenerife and had been due to return on Sunday.
He boarded two flights to reach Barcelona and then hired a car to drive to Paris. He said he could not travel by train due to French rail strikes.
Mr Muirhead, from Kirkby, Lonsdale, said his son would have to wait until Friday to board the Eurostar.
"In a very roundabout way it will take him almost a week to get home." He said that the trip had cost his son hundreds of pounds.
On Sunday, a one-off North Sea ferry service arrived in North Shields carrying 49 passengers who had been stranded in Norway.
The Port of Tyne agreed to organise the crossing in record time after a Norwegian travel agency chartered the 330ft (100m) vessel.
The disruption has been caused by a volcano beneath a glacier in the Eyjafjallajoekull area of Iceland.