Stranded tourists were scrambling to airports in Malta and abroad today as airspace opened over north and central Europe after having been closed since Thursday because of the possible danger which could be caused to aircraft engines from a cloud of ash.

Air Malta is today operating its scheduled flights to and from Zurich, Frankfurt, Berlin Tegel, Manchester, Brussels, Heathrow, Rome-Reggio, Geneva-Catania, Milan, Gatwick and Gatwick-Marseille and has also laid on extra flights to Gatwick and Zurich in an effort to quickly reduce the backlog of stranded passengers.

A spokesman said the strongest demand for flights was from London and Brussels.

An Air Malta flight will this evening also pick up 102 Maltese who had been stranded in London and are being driven down to Marseille, France.

"Our call centre has seen a surge of calls ever since airspace was reopened," an airline spokesman said.

The closure of airspace has also stranded hundreds of tourists in Malta. The airport building was this morning crowded with tourists trying to find seats on planes which were flying out. Some airlines, such as Ryanair, have still not resumed flights from the UK.

Fiona Galea Debono spoke to some of the tourists trying to find flights at the airport - see video.