British Airways cancelled all its short haul flights Tuesday after air traffic chiefs in Britain warned of a fresh cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland, the airline said in a statement.

Following the latest information  about the path of the volcanic ash affecting UK airspace, we regret we will not be able to operate any short-haul flights on Tuesday 20 April, BA said.It had been planning to operate short-haul flights from 1800 GMT Tuesday.The airline added that it was still hoping to operate long-haul flights as planned from 1500 GMT Tuesday, however this remains subject to the full and permanent opening of airspace.

The latest bulletin from the National Air Traffic Services NATS, which manages British airspace, said Tuesday that the volcano eruption in Iceland had strengthened and a new ash cloud was heading towards Britain.It said Scottish airports would begin opening early Tuesday but this would not extend to the main London airports.

Meanwhile budget airline easyJet said all its flights to and from northern Europe including Britain would be cancelled until 1600 GMT, but it would continue to operate routes in southern Europe.In a statement, it said it had hoped to resume some services earlier, however, unfortunately based on the latest meteorological forecasts and continuing emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere this is not possible.