Germany closes the sky for flights

Two German airports halted flights on Wednesday as ash from an Icelandic volcano drifted across northern Europe, with parts of Scandinavia also facing a risk of disruption.

The Grimsvotn volcano forced the cancellation of some 500 European flights on Tuesday, with Scotland especially hard hit.

Eurocontrol, the Brussels-based agency responsible for some of the world's busiest air corridors, said the ash cloud may affect parts of Denmark, southern Norway and southwest Sweden on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

EU transport commissioner Siim Kallas says invaluable lessons have been learned since last year's air traffic-stopping eruption.

"Europe is now equipped to respond with graduated response rather than a one size fits all approach," he said.

"This should avoid blanket closure of our air space and we have seen in the first 48 hours, the new EU procedures are working", says ABC Online.

According to experts, the current eruption will not lead to massive flight disruptions that marred air travel in spring of 2010, reports Voice of Russia.