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Lava is seen as a volcano erupts in Eyjafjallajokull and less ash is being hurled out - Source: Reuters -
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European airports made tentative steps toward resuming flights after five days cut off from global air traffic by a huge ash cloud, but much airspace stayed closed after reports of a new plume.
Italy, Switzerland and France reopened their airports early on Tuesday though many flights remained cancelled and in Italy only a handful took off, mainly for domestic destinations.
Hungary opened its airspace completely, effective
immediately.
But Britain's National Air Traffic Service, which controls UK
airspace, said much of Britain's airspace would remain closed to
flights below 6,000 metres until 1800 GMT at the earliest after air
traffic controllers warned a new ash cloud from Iceland's volcano
was headed for major air routes.
It said it would make another statement around 1400 GMT.
Poland, which had reopened four airports on Monday, closed them
again on Tuesday, as well as shutting the northern part of its
airspace to transit flights.
A handful of flights took off from Scottish airports after the
restrictions were eased at 0600 GMT.
However, a Glasgow airport spokesman said it would close from
1200 GMT until further notice because of the spreading ash
cloud.
"It's really just Scottish domestic flights, maybe a couple of
international ones, there's one going to Iceland - yes, it's
ironic, isn't it?" said Glasgow airport information officer Steven
Boyle.
Germany said it would mostly maintain its no-fly zone until 1800
GMT.
The European Union announced on Monday its members had reached a
deal to cut the size of the no-fly zone from 0600 GMT on Tuesday
under pressure from frustrated airlines losing an estimated $US250
million a day.
But exactly how national authorities would split European airspace
into areas where aircraft could fly or not was not clear, and many
countries were adopting a cautious approach.
Britain's NATS said in an overnight statement that the volcano
eruption was strengthening and a new ash cloud was spreading south
and east towards Britain.
"This demonstrates the dynamic and rapidly changing conditions in
which we are working," it said.
The meteorological office in Iceland said the volcano, though
erupting steadily, was actually emitting less ash and more lava
than previously, creating a lower cloud of ash.
Meteorologist Bjorn Einarsson said the emission of more lava meant
the volcano, erupting under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier about 120
km southeast of the capital Reykjavik, was producing less
ash.
"The tremors in the volcano have been slightly increasing, but that
does not give any indication of the amount of the ash cloud. It has
changed into a lava producing eruption," he said.
"The ash cloud is much less because you do not have the water to
mix with it. You can still have a lot of tremors going around the
volcano because the lava is coming out," he added.
He said the existence of a new plume might be due to the time it
took for the cloud to travel from the north Atlantic island to
other areas.
"Ash that came up yesterday might be arriving today," he
said.
Area around the volcano would stay closed
Under the EU deal, flights may be permitted in areas with a lower
concentration of ash, subject to local assessments and scientific
advice.
Airlines had declared numerous test flights problem-free over the
past days, but experts disagree over how to measure the ash and who
should decide it is safe to fly.
A British Airways jet lost power in all four engines after
flying through an ash cloud above the Indian Ocean in 1982.
Eurocontrol said it expected up to 9,000 flights to have operated
in Europe on Monday, a third of normal volume.
IATA officials said the economic impact on aviation was greater
than after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Industry losses worldwide for passenger airlines and cargo
companies could reach as much as $US3 billion from the cloud,
Helane Becker, an analyst with Jesup & Lamont Securities,
said.
For US airlines, she estimated the impact at $US400 million to
$US600 million.
Firms dependent on fast air freight were feeling the strain.
South Korea's Incheon International Airport, the world's
fourth-busiest cargo handler in 2008, suffered 3,216 tonnes of lost
shipments to Europe from April 16-19, the country's customs agency
said.
Twenty inbound and 25 outbound cargo flights had been cancelled.
Among those suffering were computer chip and electronics suppliers
such as Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor.
Kenya's flower exporters, which account for a third of EU imports,
said they were losing up to $US2 million a day.
Thousands of people stranded in Asia were offered a glimmer of hope
on Tuesday after the first flights started to take off.
A Lufthansa aircraft left Beijing around noon local time bound
for Frankfurt, the first flight to northern Europe to leave China
since late last week.
At least five more flights, bound for London, Paris, Rome and
Munich, operated by British Airways, Lufthansa and Air China, were
scheduled to leave later in the day.
Some making the best of it
Millions of people have had travel disrupted or been stranded and
forced to make long, expensive attempts to reach home by road, rail
and sea, as well as missing days at work and school at the end of
the busy Easter holiday season.
Some said they made the best of an unfortunate situation.
"There are much worse places than that to be stuck so we had a
pretty good time," said a visitor to Paris from New York who only
gave his name as Gabriel. He arrived last Tuesday and was supposed
to fly back to New York on Friday.
"Not knowing when you would get back, that was a problem otherwise
we made the best of it, had great food and great wine," he
said.
British businessman Chris Thomas, trying to get home from Los
Angeles since Thursday, flew to Mexico City and then aimed to fly
to Madrid and spend $2,000 to rent a car for the 14-hour drive to
Paris.
He was booked on the Eurostar Channel tunnel train to London,
and then planned to drive four hours to Wales.
"It's all a bit crazy but you have to err on the side of caution,"
Thomas said. "Nobody wants to be on the first plane to go down in a
volcanic cloud."
Businesses have had to find alternative ways of operating.
Communications provider Cisco Systems said companies were turning
to videoconferencing to connect executives.
Britain was deploying three navy ships, including an aircraft
carrier, to bring its citizens home from continental Europe.
The British travel agents' association ABTA estimated 150,000 Britons were stranded abroad.
Washington said it was trying to help 40,000 Americans stuck in
Britain.
A British embassy official said on Tuesday the HMS Albion was in
the northern Spanish port of Santander where it would collect 450
British soldiers and around 250 British nationals.
