The lifting of an aviation ban on 50% of flights in Europe will still leave many countries without any air services for a fifth day.READ ALSO:RNZAF grounded by ash ... no wait, just a useless planeThey include the UK, northern France, the Benelux countrie
The lifting of an aviation ban on 50% of flights in Europe will still leave many countries without any air services for a fifth day.
READ ALSO:
RNZAF grounded by ash ... no wait, just a useless plane
They include the UK, northern France, the Benelux countries, most of Germany and Denmark, Switzerland and countries bordering the Baltic Sea.
A BBC map shows the predicted extent of the Icelandic volcano ash cloud up to 6am Monday (GMT)
The lifting of the ban by Eurocontrol, the air safety body, is dependent on confirmation of weather forecasts that skies over half the continent are emptying of the volcanic ash that has thrown global travel into chaos.
EU presidency nation Spain took the lead by opening 17 of its airports that had been temporary closed, and welcoming inter-contental airlines to use them for stopovers.
Italy’s airspace is also open and flights to Rome have been unaffected by the close down, first imposed in the UK at midday on Thursday (local time).
Several major European airlines have safely tested the skies with weekend flights that did not carry passengers.
Germany temporarily loosened some airspace restrictions before the EU announcement Sunday evening, allowing limited operations from some of its largest airports before closing them again Sunday evening.
The Association of European Airlines, which has 36 members, called for an “immediate reassessment” of restrictions after test flights reported no damage from the dust.
It said the ban on flights covering more than 20 countries did not match the response to volcanic ash in other parts of the world.
Over-reaction claim
The announcement of successful test flights prompted some airline officials to wonder whether authorities had overreacted to concerns that the tiny particles of volcanic ash could jam up the engines of passenger jets.
The possibility that the ash had thinned or dispersed over parts of Europe heightened pressure from airline officials to loosen restrictions.
"With the weather we are encountering now — clear blue skies and obviously no dense ash cloud to be seen – [demonstrates] in our opinion there is absolutely no reason to worry about resuming flights," said Steven Verhagen, vice president of the Dutch Airline Pilots Association and a Boeing 737 pilot for KLM.
The Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation began allowing flights on Saturday above Swiss air space as long as the aircraft were at least at 36,000ft (11,000m).
It also allowed flights at lower altitudes under visual flight rules, aimed at small, private aircraft.
The International Civil Aviation Authority says the disruption is worse than that caused by the shutdown of air travel after 9/11.
The International Air Transport Association, which represents airlines, says its members are losing at least $US200 million a day.
Eurocontrol says 4000 flights occurred in European airspace on Sunday compared with 24,000 normally. This could increase to 12,000 on Monday as the ban is eased.
Brian Flynn, its head of operations, denied that the authorities were being over-cautious, saying they were using the “accepted methodology” of guidelines set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
But the British Airline Pilots’ Association has raised questions about the blanket ban on flights and has called for a banking-style rescue of the industry, warning that a number of airlines face the threat of bankruptcy.
Air New Zealand travel update: Due to continued restictions on UK air space until at least 6am Tuesday (NZ time), today's two flights from Auckland will terminate at Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
Flight NZ1 from London to Los Angeles and Auckland due to depart Monday afternoon (UK time) remains on schedule pending further updates from UK authorities.
