Updated:
Two coaches left London for Marseille yesterday afternoon carrying 102 Maltese who had been stranded in London for days. They left just hours before Air Malta announced it would resume flights to London today as airspace restrictions caused by an ash cloud were eased. The airline also said it would lay on two extra flights to Gatwick. The first scheduled flight to Heathrow left Malta at 7.55 today.
The coaches were arranged by the Maltese High Commission in London and left shortly before the aviation authorities opened British airspace at 11 p.m. last night.
No flights had been operated to London since Thursday as airspace was closed because of a cloud of ash from a volcano in Iceland.
Air Malta said it would today operate its scheduled flights to the UK, Rome, Reggio, Catania, Tripoli, Vienna, Milan and Catania – Zurich. The airline’s flights to Paris (Orly) and Paris (Charles De Gaulle) have also been confirmed while the airline’s flight to Brussels is subject to airspace and slot clearances. Air Malta’s scheduled flights to/from Amsterdam, and Germany for today and the announced extra flight KM3438/9 to Marseille have been cancelled. The usual, scheduled Marseille flight will be operated normally.
Ryanair flights from the UK were still cancelled.
FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS EASED
Britain's Civil Aviation Authority said that scientists and manufacturers had now downgraded the risk from flying in areas of relatively low ash concentrations.
"This evidence-based approach helped to validate a new standard that is now being adopted across Europe," it said.
"The major barrier to resuming flight has been understanding tolerance levels of aircraft to ash. Manufacturers have now agreed increased tolerance levels in low ash density areas."
Air France said it planned to fly all of its long-haul programme today, although flights in parts of northern Europe would remain suspended. Germany, with the major Frankfurt hub, has kept its airspace closed, with some exceptions.
It is not clear how long it will take to clear a backlog of hundreds of thousands of stranded travellers
Earlier yesterday day, Britain had dispatched a warship to northern Spain to collect around 300 stranded Britons. It said it would use Madrid as a hub for British citizens stranded outside of Europe to fly to, and that more than 100 coaches were being sent to take them to ferry ports.