European airports start to reopen for flights

Planes have been taking off from Paris, Madrid and Frankfurt – however many flights remain cancelled.

There are hopes that many routes within Europe will be able to resume operations on Tuesday.

But UK air traffic officials said a new ash cloud spreading from Iceland cast doubt on plans to reopen UK airspace.

The first flights have taken off from Scotland, and the flight ban has been lifted in the north of England.

But British Airways says it has cancelled all short-haul flights, after the UK air traffic control body, Nats, warned of a fresh cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland.

A spokesman for Belfast airport in Northern Ireland said it hoped to resume flights at 1000 BST (0900 GMT) but will wait for the latest advice from Nats.

Three zones

EU transport ministers proposed creating a core no-fly area, a limited-service zone and an open-skies area.

Dutch Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings said his country was “taking a lead” in restarting flights, but warned that further suspensions might prove necessary if the situation worsens.

Swiss and northern Italian airspace will reopen from 0600 GMT, and France is opening some air corridors to Paris.

But the skies over Germany are due to remain closed until 1200 GMT, with some exceptions.

The BBC’s Nik Gowing, at Frankfurt airport in Germany, says that several flights have arrived in the last hour from America and elsewhere, and that passengers reported a normal service on board.

But he says that out of 100 flights scheduled in the next 12 hours, some 95 have already been cancelled and he says the situation remains very fluid.

In Madrid, our correspondent Sarah Rainsford says that passengers have been arriving on time for their flights but have had to queue for several hours at the information desk to find alternative transport if their flights have been cancelled.

She says that on Monday dozens of coaches were laid on, taking people to Paris, Brussels, and Geneva – and this will be the case again on Tuesday if European airspace does not open up as expected.

The International Air Transport Association earlier labelled the chaos a mess and an embarrassment for Europe.

The body says its losses have soared over $1bn (£650m; 740m euros), since much of Europe’s airspace was closed last week because of ash from southern Iceland’s Eyjafjallajoekull volcano.