Is it safe to travel to Iceland after volcanic eruption? Your rights if you have a holiday booked
The earth is at its most restless in Iceland right now. Since November 2023 the Icelandic authorities have been monitoring seismic activity on the Reykjanes Peninsula, southwest of Reykjavik.
At least three homes have been set alight after lava from a volcanic eruption hit the fishing town of Grindavik. Much of the town was protected by defensive walls which were built at the onset of intense seismic activities in November.
The 4,000 inhabitants have been evacuated as a precaution.
The location is around 10 miles southwest of Keflavik airport, a major North Atlantic aviation hub.
Yet flights are continuing to arrive and depart as normal. These are the key questions and answers on consumer rights.
Yes, assuming the international airport remains open. So far operations have been largely normal, after a pause to assess the risk as the eruption began. An easyJet departure to Manchester due out early evening on Monday eventually took off at 1.35am on Tuesday, over five hours late, and arrived safely at Manchester airport at 4am.
Passengers were told: “We’re sorry that your flight has been delayed. This is because volcanic activity in Keflavik is causing restrictions to the areas in which aircraft are permitted to fly. The safety of you and our crew is our highest priority and we thank you for your patience.”
On Tuesday most flights are running normally.
You may be keen to leave earlier than booked, in order to guarantee your getaway, but at present you will not be able to switch flights without paying a penalty.
The Foreign Office has not updated its advice for weeks, after the seismic activity in the area began.
Yes. Travellers may remember where they were in April 2010, when the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupted. The skies of northern Europe completely closed to passenger aviation for almost a week.
A quarter of a billion cubic metres of volcanic ash was ejected and was carried southeast towards the UK and continental Europe by the breeze. The fear was that volcanic ash could damage jet engines and potentially bring down aircraft. In the biggest shutdown of aviation since the Second World War, 50,000 flights were cancelled and 8 million passengers had their travel plans wrecked.
More than 50,000 flights, with eight million passengers booked to travel, were cancelled.
So far in 2023, though, ash has not been an issue in the current geological outburst.
Thankfully, the circumstances are very different. Eyjafjallajokull erupted with a glacier on top. The addition of melting water meant that the lava cooled very quickly into tiny fragments. These were promptly propelled into the atmosphere to a height of 30,000 feet by the steam produced in the eruption.
Iceland is a country peppered with volcanic sites
The current eruption is not having anything like the same effect. The lava will cool and remain on the ground.
In addition, new guidelines established in the wake of the 2010 eruption allow aircraft to fly if volcanic ash is present in reasonably small quantities. Another Icelandic volcano erupted in 2011, and in that case only 1 per cent of flights in northern Europe were cancelled – rather than 100 per cent on some days in that extraordinary time.
Foreign Office advice stops well short of advising against travel to Iceland, meaning holiday companies can continue to operate as normal – with no automatic right to cancel.
Until and unless the Foreign Office warns against travel, the assumption is that everything will go ahead as normal.
Iceland’s Blue Lagoon has been closed as a precuation
