Emirates Airline flights to the UK, scheduled to leave Dubai early on Friday morning, have been cancelled due to the continuing problems associated with the Icelandic volcano eruption. According to the airline’s website, Friday's flights from Dubai to London Heathrow, scheduled to leave at 2.30am, 7.45am and 9.50am, have been cancelled. Flights to London Gatwick, which were due to depart Dubai at 2.50am and 8am, have also been cancelled.

Morning flights to other UK airport destinations including Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester and Glasgow have also been grounded, making a total of nine flights cancelled to the UK so far on Friday. Destinations in France and Germany have also been hit with the Emirates flight to Paris, due to leave Dubai at 8.20am cancelled, the service to Nice due to take off at 9am cancelled, as is the 8.25am service to Frankfurt, the 8.40am flight to Dusseldorf and the 9am Hamburg flight. Similarly, the 9.35am service to Moscow has also been cancelled owing to the volcanic eruption on Wednesday.

Emirates said that it is still waiting to hear from UK air traffic control before resuming its flights. The carrier also said that it will not charges its customers any fees for the cancellations but no refunds will be provided. "Until this time, any Emirates customer due to travel to the UK can cancel their booking or change their onward destination without charge. All reissue and cancellation fees will be waived for those affected while the disruption is ongoing,” said a spokesperson for the airline.

Meanwhile, Etihad Airways also cancelled the following flights:  EY21, Abu Dhabi to Manchester; EY22, Manchester to Abu Dhabi; EY17, Abu Dhabi to Heathrow, EY18, Heathrow to Abu Dhabi; and EY20, Heathrow to Abu Dhabi.