Iceland Monitor | mbl | 21.8.2014 | 11:44 | Uppfært 22.8.2014 17:56

Icelandair spokesman says Bárðarbunga does not affect flights

Bárðarbunga and Jökulsá á Fjöllum. Ljósmynd/Landhelgisgæslan

"This [the seismic activity in Bárðarbunga] does not affect our operations," said Icelandair spokesman Guðjón Arngrímsson to mbl.is. He further stated that the situation had not had a negative affect on flight bookings at the airline.

Currently, there are no signs of an eruption in Bárðarbunga, but earthquakes continue at a similar rate. In the past 48 hours around 1.900 quakes have occurred. Five of these have exceeded 3 in magnitude. Furthermore, the seismic activity does not seem to be moving Northeast like it had in the past few days.

Having trouble pronouncing Bárðarbunga? Here is our guide

"A lot of people are worried, people have contacted us, asking if there is any cause for concern. Our answer is always the same: The are currently no changes to our flight schedule," said Guðjón.

He said that the airline had not made a specific plan of action in case of an eruption, in light of the earthquakes. Such plans, he said, already exist.

"We have plans of action in case of any changes of our flight schedules. If Bárðarbunga erupts, we will have to put these plans in action, but there is no way to predict how a possible eruption would affect us," said Guðjón. "We don't know what sort of a situation would arise."

Foreign media coverage is the biggest influence

Guðjón said that the choice of words in the media could have a considerable effect. "Words like "evacuation" sound like hundreds or even thousands of people are being evacuated. The reality is that only a very small number of people was located North of Bárðarbunga." These report, he said, are often the reason people contacted the airline.

For further info from Icelandair, you can follow Icelandair on Twitter.

For regular updates on the situation in Bárðarbunga, you can follow mbl.is on Twitter.