Iceland has declared a state of emergency as hundreds of earthquakes struck the southwestern Reykjanes peninsula in the past 48 hours.
Despite fears of an impending volcanic eruption, flights from the UK to Keflavik international airport 10 miles north of the eruption site are going ahead as usual.
The first of 14 scheduled flights on Saturday from the UK took off without incident from London’s Luton Airport at 6.32am and landed at 9.33am at Keflavik international airport, about 10 miles north of the eruption site.
The 7.40am flight from Manchester airport also safely arrived at Keflavik international airport at 10.30am.
Five more flights are set to touch down in Iceland later on Saturday. From the capital, an easyJet flight will leave from London Gatwick at 2.30pm and another from London Heathrow at 8.40pm.
Travellers are advised to monitor local media for updates
(Ragnar Th. Sigurdsson , arcticimages.com)
A further easyJet flight is set to leave Manchester Airport at 4.10pm and another easyJet plane will set off from Edinburgh at 5.15pm.
From Glasgow, an Icelandair jet will fly out at 12.45pm.
A spokesperson for easyJet said: “Our flying schedule is currently operating as normal however we are monitoring the situation closely and should this change we will contact customers directly to advise on their flights.”
The remaining 13 are on airlines including British Airways, Icelandair and Wizz Air are all flying to Keflavik. Nine are from London, three from Manchester and one each from Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Another flight from London Gatwick airport to Iceland’s northern city, Akureyri, about 200 miles from the seismic activity, arrived shortly after 10am.
All UK flights are set to go ahead
(Alamy/PA)
Foreign Office advice is regarded by the UK travel industry as the arbiter of whether or not a destination is safe.
Were it to warn against travel to parts of Iceland, holidaymakers already there would be moved and no further departures would operate to those areas.
The Foreign Office ramped up their travel advice today, saying the threat of a volcanic eruption is increasingly possible.
The official advice reads: “Earthquakes and indications of volcanic activity have increased above normal levels on the Reykjanes peninsula, southwest of Reykjavik.“The Icelandic authorities continue to monitor the area closely, particularly the area…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Independent Travel…