London, April 20: European airports started to return to life on Tuesday after five days cut off from the rest of the world by a huge ash cloud, but some airspace stayed closed after reports a new plume from Iceland may be on its way. Italy, Switzerland and France reopened their airports early
on Tuesday though many flights remained cancelled, and in Italy only a handful took off in the morning, mainly domestic flights. Hungary, Slovenia and Moldova also resumed flights.
But Britain’s National Air Traffic Service, which controls UK airspace, said much of Britain would remain closed to flights below 20,000 feet (6,000 metres) until at least midnight GMT after air traffic controllers warned a new ash cloud was headed for major air routes.
That included London’s Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, but not airports in the north. Airspace in Finland, Poland and parts of Sweden and Ireland was also closed.
European aviation control agency Eurocontrol said on Tuesday about half of scheduled air traffic in Europe was expected to operate — about 14,000 flights — up from a third on Monday. The European Union, which announced on Monday that its members had reached a deal to reduce the size of the no-fly zone from 6 am GMT on Tuesday, acknowledged progress was slow.
“We know there are still a lot of problems for passengers on the ground,” spokeswoman for the executive European Commission Helen Kearns told a briefing. —Reuters
Peter Griffiths
