London:
After nearly a week of no flight movement, all UK airports have now been opened. Europe's busiest airport, London's Heathrow, reopened on Tuesday as air traffic across the continent lurched back to life, but the gridlock created by Iceland's volcanic ash plume was far from over. But officials said it would be weeks before all stranded travellers could be brought home.
A flight from Vancouver landed at Heathrow shortly before 10 pm (2100 GMT) - the first since flight paths were closed after Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted last Wednesday. British Airways said it expected about two dozen flights from the United States, Africa and Asia to land by early Wednesday.
The UK's Transport Secretary, Lord Adonis, told the expectant media in the British capital that all UK airports were open from Tuesday evening, allowing airlines to schedule flights accordingly. Passengers whooped and cheered as they walked off the first planes to arrive at Heathrow. One man said he was "so pleased, you don't know how pleased" to be back. "British Airways were wonderful," said Laurence Llewelyn Bowen, a British TV presenter who returned on a flight from Mauritius. "They let us know all the way through what was going on."
Flights also took off from Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport, Amsterdam and elsewhere, but the travel chaos was far from over, with a massive flight backlog and scientists fearing yet another eruption. The Eurocontrol air traffic agency said it expected just under half of the 27,500 flights over Europe to go ahead on Tuesday, a marked improvement over the last few days. The agency predicted close to normal takeoffs by Friday.
It was the first day since the April 14 eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano - dormant for nearly 200 years - that travellers were given a reason for hope. Conditions changed fast. Airspace in Germany remained officially closed, but about 800 flights were allowed at low altitude.
But with more than 95-thousand flights cancelled in the last week alone, airlines faced the enormous task of working through the backlog to help passengers - a challenge that could take days or even weeks. Passengers with current tickets were being given priority; those who had been stranded for days were told to either buy a new ticket or take their chances using the old one, a wait that could be days or weeks for the next available seat.
The volcano that prompted the turmoil continued to rumble on Tuesday. Tremors could be heard and felt as far as 15 miles (25 kilometres) from the crater. Scientists were worried that the eruption could trigger an even larger eruption at the nearby Katla volcano, which sits on the massive Myrdalsjokull icecap. Its last major eruption was in 1918.
Volcano experts say that should such an eruption occur, air travellers might expect more disruptions, depending on prevailing winds. "There there may well be cases in the days and weeks ahead where we see further volcanic ash eruptions and if that means on safety grounds we should suspend flying, we will do so," said Willie Walsh, Chief Executive of British Airways.
British government and United Nations officials also stressed that flight safety was a major concern when the decision was made to re-open the airspace. Of Iceland's eight volcanic eruptions in the last 40 years, only the recent one at Eyjafjallajokull was followed by winds blowing southeast toward northern Europe. While seismic activity at the volcano had increased, the ash plume appeared to be shrinking - though it wasn't moving very fast.
Early on Tuesday, a Eurocontrol volcanic ash map listed the airspace between Iceland and Britain and Ireland as a no-fly zone, along with much of the Baltic Sea and surrounding area. Still, planes were allowed to fly above 20-thousand feet (7-thousand kilometres) in Britain, ahead of the reopening of airspace nationwide on Tuesday evening.
Dozens of flights departed and arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport as the government announced that flights could be carried out in darkness using instruments. Airports in Switzerland, central Europe and Scandinavia also reopened, and some flights took off from Asia headed for southern Europe, where air travel was not affected. Spain piled on extra buses, trains and ferries to handle an expected rush of passengers. Polish aviation authorities said they planned to reopen the country's airspace on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Britons sought a way home.
Britain's Foreign Office acknowledged the enormity of the problem, informing Britons abroad that it may take a "matter of weeks before everyone can be repatriated." The government advised Britons to remain in close contact with their airline. Those in Europe were told to make their way to the French port of Calais, other Channel ports or a northern European port.
Thousands converged on the coast from across Europe by car, train and bus, evoking memories for some of the evacuation of the British army from Nazi-occupied France through the port of Dunkirk in 1940.
The aviation industry, facing losses of more than 1 (b) billion US dollars, has sharply criticised European governments' handling of the disruption that grounded thousands of flights on the continent. BA's Willie Walsh criticised the blanket ban which had been imposed on all UK airspace last Thursday. "My personal belief is that we could have safely continued operating for a period of time," Walsh said. British Airways, which cancelled about 500 flights a day in the past five days, said it was trying to clear its backlog. Some carriers were using bigger planes and more flights, while others were hiring buses to help get customers to their destinations.
A flight from Vancouver landed at Heathrow shortly before 10 pm (2100 GMT) - the first since flight paths were closed after Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted last Wednesday. British Airways said it expected about two dozen flights from the United States, Africa and Asia to land by early Wednesday.
The UK's Transport Secretary, Lord Adonis, told the expectant media in the British capital that all UK airports were open from Tuesday evening, allowing airlines to schedule flights accordingly. Passengers whooped and cheered as they walked off the first planes to arrive at Heathrow. One man said he was "so pleased, you don't know how pleased" to be back. "British Airways were wonderful," said Laurence Llewelyn Bowen, a British TV presenter who returned on a flight from Mauritius. "They let us know all the way through what was going on."
Flights also took off from Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport, Amsterdam and elsewhere, but the travel chaos was far from over, with a massive flight backlog and scientists fearing yet another eruption. The Eurocontrol air traffic agency said it expected just under half of the 27,500 flights over Europe to go ahead on Tuesday, a marked improvement over the last few days. The agency predicted close to normal takeoffs by Friday.
It was the first day since the April 14 eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano - dormant for nearly 200 years - that travellers were given a reason for hope. Conditions changed fast. Airspace in Germany remained officially closed, but about 800 flights were allowed at low altitude.
But with more than 95-thousand flights cancelled in the last week alone, airlines faced the enormous task of working through the backlog to help passengers - a challenge that could take days or even weeks. Passengers with current tickets were being given priority; those who had been stranded for days were told to either buy a new ticket or take their chances using the old one, a wait that could be days or weeks for the next available seat.
The volcano that prompted the turmoil continued to rumble on Tuesday. Tremors could be heard and felt as far as 15 miles (25 kilometres) from the crater. Scientists were worried that the eruption could trigger an even larger eruption at the nearby Katla volcano, which sits on the massive Myrdalsjokull icecap. Its last major eruption was in 1918.
Volcano experts say that should such an eruption occur, air travellers might expect more disruptions, depending on prevailing winds. "There there may well be cases in the days and weeks ahead where we see further volcanic ash eruptions and if that means on safety grounds we should suspend flying, we will do so," said Willie Walsh, Chief Executive of British Airways.
British government and United Nations officials also stressed that flight safety was a major concern when the decision was made to re-open the airspace. Of Iceland's eight volcanic eruptions in the last 40 years, only the recent one at Eyjafjallajokull was followed by winds blowing southeast toward northern Europe. While seismic activity at the volcano had increased, the ash plume appeared to be shrinking - though it wasn't moving very fast.
Early on Tuesday, a Eurocontrol volcanic ash map listed the airspace between Iceland and Britain and Ireland as a no-fly zone, along with much of the Baltic Sea and surrounding area. Still, planes were allowed to fly above 20-thousand feet (7-thousand kilometres) in Britain, ahead of the reopening of airspace nationwide on Tuesday evening.
Dozens of flights departed and arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport as the government announced that flights could be carried out in darkness using instruments. Airports in Switzerland, central Europe and Scandinavia also reopened, and some flights took off from Asia headed for southern Europe, where air travel was not affected. Spain piled on extra buses, trains and ferries to handle an expected rush of passengers. Polish aviation authorities said they planned to reopen the country's airspace on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Britons sought a way home.
Britain's Foreign Office acknowledged the enormity of the problem, informing Britons abroad that it may take a "matter of weeks before everyone can be repatriated." The government advised Britons to remain in close contact with their airline. Those in Europe were told to make their way to the French port of Calais, other Channel ports or a northern European port.
Thousands converged on the coast from across Europe by car, train and bus, evoking memories for some of the evacuation of the British army from Nazi-occupied France through the port of Dunkirk in 1940.
The aviation industry, facing losses of more than 1 (b) billion US dollars, has sharply criticised European governments' handling of the disruption that grounded thousands of flights on the continent. BA's Willie Walsh criticised the blanket ban which had been imposed on all UK airspace last Thursday. "My personal belief is that we could have safely continued operating for a period of time," Walsh said. British Airways, which cancelled about 500 flights a day in the past five days, said it was trying to clear its backlog. Some carriers were using bigger planes and more flights, while others were hiring buses to help get customers to their destinations.
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