There was mixed news this evening for attendees of next week’s London Book Fair. NATS, The National Air traffic service, which controls British airspace, lifted some restrictions on airspace in Scotland, and that may also extend to northern parts of England tomorrow. Closure of UK airspace has now been extended to 1pm Saturday, but already a number of airlines have decided to suspend services until early lunchtime Monday.

The plume of ash cloud from Iceland’s volcanic eruption earlier this week is now working its way across the English midlands and south of the country. The hope is that transatlantic flights may allow attendees of the London Book Fair to access the capital via Scotland or Northern England over the weekend.

British Airways has cancelled flights in and out of all London airports on Saturday, while Ryanair has said it will not make any scheduled flights to and from the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, Northern France, Northern Germany, Poland and the Baltic States until 1pm on Monday at the earliest.

The London Book Fair organizers vowed the ‘show would go on’ earlier today, but there is no doubt the current travel chaos is going to have an effect on this weeks events at the Fair. It is as yet too early to say exactly how much the event will be hit by the non-attendance of overseas travelers.