New EU rules to curb disruption

The European Union has drawn up new guidelines for dealing with volcanic ash to curb disruption to travellers, the EU's aviation safety body said.

The rules will give more flexibility to national air traffic controllers and will involve the creation of a European crisis coordination centre to ensure a smoother response to emergencies such as the ash scare which grounded flights in April.

Fears that ash blown southwards from an erupting Icelandic volcano could clog up engines and cause planes to crash led to a six-day shutdown of Europe's busiest air corridors in mid-April, stranding millions and inflicting heavy losses on airlines.

The European Aviation Safety Agency said it had agreed new rules with the European Commission and Eurocontrol air traffic management agency for assessing the risk of contamination. Under the new rules airspace will be divided into four zones instead of three at present, using maps updated every six hours.