By IANS/AKI,
Rome : Flights resumed at airports in Italy and elsewhere in Europe Tuesday as the European Union eased the no-fly bans imposed last week after the eruption of ash from volcano in Iceland.
Planes began departing from Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt after the EU lifted flight restrictions imposed earlier to avoid any possible damage to aircraft engines while flying through the skies in the ash cloud zone.
Italy’s largest airline, Alitalia, announced its flights were gradually resuming, and advised passengers flying to northern Italy to check in at least an hour earlier than normal and those taking international flights to check in 90 minutes earlier.
The airline advised passengers flying to northern Italy, central or northern Europe to check its website or check for information before leaving for the airport.
An estimated seven million passengers are believed to have been affected by the flight disruptions which the International Air Transport Association estimates to have cost airlines more than a billion dollars in losses.
In Italy and elsewhere, bus and train stations and ferry companies have been overwhelmed with crowds of desperate travellers seeking tickets, undeterred by the long overland journeys required to reach their destinations.
Unions Tuesday announced that a 24-hour general transport strike in Italy planned for Friday has been postponed until May 28.
“This is due to the grave difficulty posed to travellers in Europe by the volcanic eruption in Iceland, which has had serious repercussions in Italy,” the unions said in a statement.
Italy’s civil aviation authority ENAC said it was monitoring particle levels in the air amid reports from atmospheric physicists that particles from the volcanic ash cloud were expected to extend across Italy by Wednesday.
However, flights to the British capital London had not resumed Tuesday, despite a partial easing of flight restrictions announced by the European Union late Monday.
EU transport ministers proposed creating a core no-fly area, a limited service zone and an open-skies area.
British Airways Tuesday cancelled all short-haul flights amid reports from UK air traffic officials that a new cloud of volcanic ash spreading from Iceland cast doubts on plans to reopen British airspace.
The airline said that long-distance flights would re-start from British airports from 16.00 local time “subject to the full and permanent opening of airspace”.
A few flights have taken off from Scotland and Northern Ireland and there is limited airspace over the north of England.
Some 17,000 foreign tourists were stranded in Egypt, most of them at airports near to the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh, pan-Arab daily al-Sharq al-Awsat said.
The International Air Transport Association has criticised European governments’ response to the crisis, which has been costing airlines up to $200 million a day.