Sri Lanka flight operations affected by rain while Europe flights affected by volcanic ash

Heavy rains experienced in Sri Lanka's western coastal areas affected the operations at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), country's only international airport at Katunayake today.

Many access roads leading to the airport remained inundated and passengers were delayed for checking in, BIA sources said.

An airport official said that flight operations were also changed due to bad weather. Two aircraft bound for Colombo from Singapore were turned to Trivandrum last night, he said.

Passengers are informed that more delays can be expected at the airport until the weather normalizes.

Meanwhile Europe's busiest airports were affected by the dense volcanic ash cloud from the Iceland's Eyjafjallajokul volcano.

EUROCONTROL, the European aviation authority said it expects 28,000 flights in Europe Monday, approximately 1,000 less than on a normal day, due to the closure of airspace in the south-east of the UK and in the Netherlands.

Although flights were operating from London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports and Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport Monday afternoon, the airport authorities have warned travelers to expect delays and contact the their airlines before going to the airport, Associated Press reported.