Ash Cloud, Volcanic Ash Cloud | featured news

An ash cloud drifting around the world for a second time after spewing from a Chilean volcano more than two weeks ago is once again grounding commercial jets and stranding thousands of passengers in Australia.

Meanwhile, some German airports were reopened Wednesday after cancellations due to the cloud of volcanic ash. Bremen has reopened and Hamburg is allowing takeoffs and landings, according to Deutsche Flugsicherung, the German aviation safety agency. Airports in Berlin will resume flights at 2 p.m. local time ( 8 a.m. ET).

The spread of dense ash from the erupting Iceland volcano could force the cancellation of up to 500 commercial flights in Northern Ireland, Scotland and parts of Scandinavia, the European air traffic agency said Tuesday.

Volcanic eruptions on Russia's far-eastern Kamchatka Peninsula have tossed massive ash clouds into the air, forcing flights to divert and blanketing a town with ashes.

British budget airline easyJet unveiled a volcanic ash detector on Friday that it says will allow aircraft to safely navigate around potentially lethal ash clouds.

Britain and the Netherlands shut or planned to close major airports because of volcanic ash from Iceland on Monday, threatening large-scale air traffic disruption in Europe at the start of the working week.

Fifteen Spanish airports will be closed Saturday afternoon because of ash blowing from an Icelandic volcano, aviation officials said.

A mammoth cloud of ash is stretching 1,250 miles across the North Atlantic and forcing aircraft to divert south into a long-haul traffic jam, Irish and European air authorities said.

After two successive days of restrictions due to a plume of volcanic ash, airspace was reopened to all flights.

Airports in Ireland and parts of Britain were closed for hours on Tuesday because of a cloud of volcanic ash drifting south from Iceland that shut European airspace last month and could threaten summer holiday travel.