Normally, Luton Airport is a thriving airport with hundreds of flights arriving or leaving every day; making it one of the busiest airports in Britain. However, recent developments have resulted in all flights being cancelled from not only Luton airport, but the vast majority of flights across Europe have been grounded because of the recent volcanic eruption that has taken place in Iceland. There are hopes that flights may be resumed within the week, however for the foreseeable future, they are likely to be disrupted as the volcano continues to spew tons of volcanic ash into the atmosphere – a process that could possibly continue on and off for the next few months.

The reason why this has caused so much disruption is the effect that it has on the way the aeroplane functions. During flight, the engines become incredibly warm which usually isn’t an issue. However, in the atmosphere where the plane is flying through a lot of space that is contaminated with ash, a lot of this ash is deposited onto the hot engine. The net result of this is that the ash melts and becomes a viscous, tarry substance. As well as the additional weight that this causes, the melted ash then enters the engine which, as you can appreciate, is not good news and causes the engine to stop working – catastrophic for the plane in mid flight. So whilst it is an inconvenience for the flights out of Luton airport to be so disrupted, it is for the safety of all passengers.