Out of interest has anyone actually established which agency in the UK shut down the airspce on alleged safety grounds. I doubt it was the service providers NATS, Eurocontrol or Met Office. They were presumably advisors to the authority.

These issue do highlight the challenges in flying around Europe and the complexities introduced by State responsibilities. The concept of single skies is around the corner but has been for a number of years.

As a result of the chaos aircraft manufacturers and Operators have all thought a bit more about the safety implications of flying through volcanic dust (rather than ash) clouds
and deemed it safe for low concentrations. Now we can get back to normal flying and react to the next eruption more confidently.

Regards