Overview
- Satellite monitoring by the India Meteorological Department showed the Hayli Gubbi ash cloud exiting Indian airspace Tuesday night after passing over western and northern states.
- The Directorate General of Civil Aviation issued urgent advisories, ASHTAM and SIGMET alerts directing strict avoidance of affected flight levels and calling for precautionary aircraft inspections.
- Air India canceled 11 flights over Monday and Tuesday for safety checks, Akasa Air suspended services to Jeddah, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi, and KLM canceled its Amsterdam–Delhi rotation, with Delhi seeing at least seven cancellations and 12 delays.
- Forecasters said the ash was largely between roughly 25,000 and 45,000 feet, causing hazy skies and reroutes but little direct impact on surface air quality, which in Delhi remained driven by local pollution sources.
- In Ethiopia’s Afar region, villages reported ashfall and coughing, and local officials dispatched mobile medical teams to affected communities.