Aviation safety authorities in Europe have lifted bans on flying as fears of the effects of volcanic ash clouds dissipate.READ ALSO:RNZAF grounded by ash ... no wait, just a useless planeAn urgent meeting of Eurocontrol, the European air safety body, has
Aviation safety authorities in Europe have lifted bans on flying as fears of the effects of volcanic ash clouds dissipate.
READ ALSO:
RNZAF grounded by ash ... no wait, just a useless plane
An urgent meeting of Eurocontrol, the European air safety body, has just agreed to lift restrictions in areas where the ash cloud is having no effects.
"The forecast is that there will be half of flights possibly operating tomorrow [Monday],” Spain's secretary of state for EU affairs Diego Lopez Garrido told reporters after the meeting.
The decision comes after EU presidency country Spain pushed for a rapid re-opening of air routes where there is no danger.
Spain reopened all its 17 airports that were temporarily closed after the ash cloud moved away. By contrast, most of Europe remained a virtual no-fly zone, with about 30 countries closing or restricting airspace.
Spanish Transport Minister Jose Blanco has offered all airlines use of its airports for stopovers in Europe.
"Spain is offering the use of some Spanish airports as a intercontinental platform," he said, adding that flights from other continents could land in Spain from where passengers could make their way to other destinations in Europe by road or rail.
Airlines that have lost hundreds of millions of dollars by the grounding say test flights over the weekend showed no problems.
The suspension of most flights in northern Europe have affected some six million travellers around the world and brought chaos to over-crowded ground transport.
It also stopped air cargo operations, with a major impact on perishables such as fruit, vegeatables and flowers.
EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said after the Eurocontrol meeting he hoped that 50% of European airspace would be risk free on Monday.
He said the current situation was "not sustainable" and European authorities were working to find a solution that did not compromise safety.
"We cannot wait until the ash flows just disappear," he said.
Test flights
Dutch airline KLM received permission from aviation authorities to fly seven of its planes stuck in Duesseldorf, Germany, back to Amsterdam, with no affects from the ash blown up by the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland.
Other airlines, such as Lufthansa and British Airways, made similar flights without passengers.
KLM said that the Boeing 737-800 airliner reached an altitude of 41,000ft, the maximum allowed for that type of jet, and that an inspection afterward "revealed that no problems had been encountered and that the quality of the atmosphere is in order."
