Air travel in, out of and around Europe continues to be disrupted by volcanic ash clouds even though many flights took to the skies Tuesday for the first time in five days.Most airports in the UK, including London's Heathrow and Gatwick, won't reopen unti
Air travel in, out of and around Europe continues to be disrupted by volcanic ash clouds even though many flights took to the skies Tuesday for the first time in five days.
Most airports in the UK, including London’s Heathrow and Gatwick, won't reopen until Wednesday and the total number of travellers affected by backlogs has reached seven million.
Air New Zealand has yet to resume services to Europe. Yesterday's NZ2 flight from Auckland to London via Los Angeles terminated in Los Angeles while no flight was scheduled via Hong Kong. Updates are here.
Air services resumed at most French airports, including Paris’ Charles de Gaulle, and at Amsterdam’s Schipol. Most German air space remains closed though some 800 planes have been allowed to land and take off from Frankfurt and elsewhere.
Flight restrictions also remain in place across Ireland, Finland and Poland.
Airports in central Europe and Scandinavia were open. Scottish airports let in a handful of domestic flights, while Switzerland and northern Italy also opened their airspace.
Spain has been an emergency hub for overseas flights, with travellers completing their journeys on buses, trains and ferries.
A British navy ship picked hundreds of stranded travellers and troops from northern Spain but left hundreds more behind.
The Eurocontrol air traffic agency expects just over half (53%) of Europe's 27,500 daily flights to have gone ahead by the end of Tuesday but normal services aren’t expected before Friday. This BBC map shows the extent of the ash cloud from a volcano in Iceland.
Weather forecasters expect a change in winds later this week will help disperse the cloud further north and away from the UK and Ireland, which are the worst affected countries.
Meanwhile, some European car factories and one in Japan have suspended production due to the lack of parts flown in by air from other parts of the world.
BMW has shut down its Munich plant while Nissan said it was unable to import air pressure sensors from the Ireland for some models made in Japan.
