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In this image made available by the Icelandic Coastguard, smoke and steam rises from the volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland, which erupted for the second time in less than a month, melting ice, shooting smoke and steam into the air and forcing hundreds of people to flee rising floodwaters. Image Credit: AP

London: All flights in and out of London’s Heathrow airport and the other airports in the capital will be suspended from 1100 GMT Thursday due to volcanic ash from Iceland, officials said.

The National Air Traffic Services agency said no non-emergency flights will be allowed in British airspace from 1100GMT.

A spokesman for the civil aviation authority said Thursday that the ban will be in effect until 1700GMT.

He said they would continue to monitor the situation and would be working with other European aviation authorities.

Hundreds of flights across Britain have already been cancelled, and airports in Scotland closed.

Heathrow is Europe’s busiest airport, with more than 1,200 flights and an average of 180,000 passengers a day.