Indian carriers Air India and Akasa Air announced on Tuesday that they have cancelled several flights after ash plumes from a volcanic eruption in Ethiopia affected flight operations. Air India confirmed it cancelled 11 flights across Monday and Tuesday to conduct precautionary inspections on aircraft that had flown over regions impacted by the eruption. The move follows safety directives issued by India’s aviation regulator.
Akasa Air also said it had cancelled flights scheduled to Middle East destinations—including Jeddah, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi—over the two days due to ash-related risks.
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According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the ash cloud is moving toward China and is expected to clear Indian airspace by 1400 GMT on Tuesday.
The eruption occurred on Sunday at Ethiopia’s Hayli Gubbi volcano, which sent ash plumes soaring up to 14 km (8.7 miles) high—its first eruption in recorded history, according to media reports.
By Tuesday, the drifting ash cloud had spread across Pakistan and northern India, after passing over Yemen and Oman, data from flight-tracking platform Flightradar24 showed.