You may have had trouble pronouncing the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull last year but if you were an airline traveler in Europe you know very well what that name meant. Airline flyers, now meet Grimsvötn as European airspace could face closures due to ash clouds once again.

The recent eruptions by the Grimsvötn volcano has actually spewed more ash than the now infamous Eyjafjallajökull eruption. In fact, Grimsvötn is Iceland's most active volcano so it's no surprise that it's making its presence known again. The question is whether enough ash will make its way to European airspace to disrupt air travel for millions. So far, the recent eruptions have only affected flights to and from Iceland, including Keflavik airport (KEF), Iceland's main international gateway.

Last spring's ash disruptions cost the airline industry roughly €1.2 billion (US$1.7 billion) and stretched the limits of passenger protections that airlines were willing to take on. Much criticism was directed at the decision to close vast swaths of European airspace to traffic, mostly as a precaution, and the typical lessons learned in hindsight are still being debated today.

EU regulators are taking a closer look at airline compensation requirements for extraordinary events such as airspace closures due to the presence of volcanic ash. Some airlines initially refused to pay for accommodations and meals due to the delays and cancellations. Under current EU regulations, EU-based airlines and those flying to and from EU member states are not required to monetarily compensate passengers for disruptions due to extraordinary circumstances, but they are to provide care, including accommodations. Eventually, the resisting airlines relented and agreed to provide passengers with (or reimbursement for) meals, accommodations and transportation.

Once the ash clouds cleared, the dust didn't settle right away. Some in the industry felt that the airspace closures were reactionary in nature and could have been more isolated rather than widespread. Others pushed for a quicker overhaul of European airspace. In fact, the move to unify the air traffic control sectors of EU member states is now on an accelerated pace thanks to last year's chaos.

Now, for those interested on how these volcanoes are actually pronounced, here is our best non-scientific, non-academically-sanctioned attempt. Noting that in Icelandic, a double letter "L" is pronounced like at "TL", we have Eyjafjallajökull, or EY-ya-FIAT-la-YO-kutl. Fortunately, Grimsvötn is a lot less taxing on those of us who are not familiar with Icelandic. Try GREEMS-vuhtn. The "uh" in that last part is pronounced exactly the way European air travelers will be saying "uh-oh" if we get a repeat of the chaos we saw last spring.