A small number of flights have taken off in northern Europe after five days of inactivity caused by the spread of volcanic ash from Iceland.

Planes have been departing from Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt among others – though many flights are still grounded.

The Eurocontrol air traffic agency says it expects up to 60% of flights over Europe to go ahead on Tuesday.
A new ash cloud spreading from Iceland has meant that most of UK airspace, including London, remains closed.

The UK’s air traffic control authority, Nats, says it is unlikely that the main airports in London will reopen on Tuesday.

A few flights have taken off from Scotland and Northern Ireland and there is limited airspace over the north of England.

British Airways says it has cancelled all short-haul flights but is hoping to operate long-haul flights after 1600 BST (1500 GMT) but this “remains subject to the full and permanent opening of airspace”.

A Nats statement said the situation remained “dynamic” and that “the latest information from the Met Office shows that the situation today will continue to be variable”.

In an effort to try to take control of the situation, EU transport ministers have created a core no-fly area, a limited-service zone and an open-skies area.

The Eurocontrol air traffic agency in Brussels says that some 10,000 of Europe’s 27,500 daily flights are scheduled to fly on Tuesday.

The deputy director of operations, Brian Flynn, said: “The outlook is optimistic that bit by bit, hopefully in a few days’ time, the situation will be restored to normal movement of air passengers in Europe.”

The first flights left Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport late on Monday. 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 worsened.

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Swiss and northern Italian airspace has reopened. The Swiss authorities said test flights had shown a considerable reduction in the amount of ash in the atmosphere and posed no threat to passenger safety.
Flights have resumed out of Paris’ Charles de Gaulle and Orly airport, which are operating about 30% capacity.
The skies over Germany are due to remain closed until 1200 GMT, with some exceptions.

The German carrier, Lufthansa, says it is planning about 200 flights on Tuesday, taking advantage of special permission to fly visually rather than relying on instruments and keeping in constant touch with air traffic controllers.

In Spain, where all airports were open, the government has offered to let Britain and other European countries use its airports as stopovers to get passengers moving again.

Meanwhile, the EU Commissioner for Transport, Siim Kallas, has rejected criticism that the EU took too long to respond to the crisis.

Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr Kallas said that all decisions were taken in accordance with existing and established rules.

He said the matter was not “in the hands of arbitrary decisions”, but that the lives of people were at stake.

The International Air Transport Association has labelled the chaos a mess and an embarrassment for Europe.
The body said on Monday that its losses have soared to over $1bn (£650m; 740m euros), since much of Europe’s airspace was closed last week because of ash from southern Iceland’s Eyjafjallajoekull volcano.
In a sign of the impact of the crisis on Asia’s export-driven economies, the Japanese car giant, Nissan, says it is suspending several production lines due to the shortage of parts from Ireland. Honda will also partly halt production.

Experts say the volcano – which erupted last Wednesday for the second time in a month – has entered a new phase and is now producing more lava rather than ash and dust.

In the high temperatures of an engine turbine, ash can turn to molten glass and cripple the engine.
The shroud of fine mineral dust particles from the volcano has spread from the Arctic Circle in the north to the French Mediterranean coast in the south, and from Spain into Russia.

EUROPEAN AIRSPACE 0900

BELGIUM – Airspace open: Some planes landing, flights to depart from 1200 GMT
UK – Airspace open over Scotland and Northern Ireland. Limited airspace over north of England. London airports remain closed
FRANCE – Plans to re-open airports progressively on Tuesday
GERMANY – Airspace closed, with some exceptions, until at 1200 GMT on Tuesday. Lufthansa planning to operate 200 flights
IRELAND – Airspace closed until 1200 GMT on Tuesday
ITALY – Airspace open
NETHERLANDS – Airspace open. Passenger flights arriving and departing in Amsterdam
SPAIN – Airspace open; 17 airports operating
SWEDEN – Airspace open
SWITZERLAND – Airspace open
DENMARK – Airspace closed
NORWAY – Airspace closed
POLAND – Airspace closed