Royal Mail tell us that most air services are now operating normally, although airlines are prioritising the transportation of people and essential goods at this time.   Most of the mail posted in the UK for the USA and Canada has now been processed and despatched to North America.  However, there may be a slight delay to the transmission of some mail to the USA.

Some difficulties with securing cargo capacity issues on air services to South America, mean there may still be a delay to mail arriving in several countries in the region; further updates will be given during the coming week.

Mail to Iceland is continuing to be held, as Icelandic airspace remains closed.

Outbound mail for Australasia and the Far East, may currently be experiencing a delay of up to two days in transmission.

Royal Mail say they are working closely with overseas authorities to establish the extent of any delays to the delivery of mail from the UK in the destination countries.  So far though, volcanoes willing, everything is more or less back to normal and customers can expect their orders to arrive in around the same timeframe as usual.

As you might expect, we are keeping track on the impact of the closed airspace on International mail services so we know what to tell our overseas customers.  As far as our sources can tell us, all International mail due to leave or enter the UK is affected by the closure of UK airspace as a result of the Icelandic volcano and delays to international mail are therefore inevitable.   Royal Mail assure us they do have robust contingency plans in place that mean mail leaving the UK for all European destinations is being transferred to road and sea services, which is pretty much what you would expect.   This also includes contingency plans for the shipping of items to the USA by sea, the first of which shipments is expected to arrive in the USA around the 30th April.  Royal Mail are also exploring all the possible options for alternative routes to destinations in the rest of the world until the dear old volcano has finished its business!  Also, let’s hope its neighbour doesn’t decide that sending up clouds of ash is a fun game the whole volcano family can play!   

In the meantime, Royal Mail tell us that mail is being carefully stored in order for it to continue its journey as soon as alternative routes become available or flights resume.    Apparently, many European postal authorities are also using alternative transport solutions to move international mail in and out of the country so customers should check with the relevant postal authority in their own country for further details.   We are really sorry we cannot currently estimate how long international mail will be affected by this unavoidable event and therefore what delays our customers can expect in receiving their order.  Unfortunately, because it is airspace that is affected and all the faster options such as courier and priority mail services use airplanes for transporting their mail and packages quickly the courier and Priority mail companies are no use to us either. 

For information about how the current airspace restrictions are affecting international mail and some UK services visit the Royal Mail Service Update page.   Any other questions, please contact us via our Contact Form in the top bar of this website.