Indian airlines Air India and Akasa Air said on Tuesday they were cancelling some flights after ash plumes from a volcanic eruption in Ethiopia disrupted operations.
Air India said it had cancelled 11 flights on Monday and Tuesday to make precautionary checks on aircraft that had flown over some locations after the eruption, following a directive to airlines from India's aviation regulator.
Smaller peer Akasa said it had scrapped scheduled flights with Middle East destinations such as Jeddah, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi scheduled during the two days.
The ash cloud is moving towards China and is expected to clear Indian skies by 1400 GMT Tuesday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement.
Ethiopia's Hayli Gubbi volcano sent ash plumes up to 14 km (8.7 miles) high after erupting on Sunday for the first time in recorded history, according to media reports.
On Tuesday, the ash had covered parts of Pakistan and northern India, according to tracking website Flightradar24, after crossing Yemen and Oman.
Unusually strong
The eruption on Sunday was unusually strong in size and sound, described as one of the most powerful eruptions in recent years, state broadcaster Fana reported, citing eyewitnesses.
It sent a massive ash column drifting over nearby communities, heightening concern among residents.
According to the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Center, the eruption stopped, but an ash cloud has been drifting over Yemen, Oman, India, and China.
The Smithsonian Institution says its Global Volcanism Program has no record of Hayli Gubbi erupting in the past 12,000 years, though earlier large eruptions may be listed in the LaMEVE database, part of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project.
