THE Icelandic volcanic cloud may have caused chaos across the world but workers at Stansted Airport have been taking advantage of the quiet time to carry out runway maintenance.

THE Icelandic volcanic cloud may have caused chaos across the world but workers at Stansted Airport have been taking advantage of the quiet time to carry out runway maintenance.

Work which would normally be carried out overnight and cause the runway at the Essex airport to close has shifted to the day.

Yesterday saw work to remove debris from the runway along with replacing lighting.

Melvyn Nice, from BAA Stansted, said: “No flights meant that the airfield operations teams were given the chance to carryout out maintenance work.

“Jobs which would normally be done overnight have been taking place over the past few days as we don’t have to close the runway.”

Mr Nice said the passengers still waiting at the airport since last week had been sleeping on the floors and seats although families had been in touch to offer places to stay in the local area.

“When you get through to ‘air-side’ there is no one in the shopping area or the duty free.

“There are people who have been here since Thursday but our staff are walking around, talking to passengers and have been offering them meals – things like that,” he said.