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Airports in Scotland have reopened but tens of thousands of passengers hoping to return home face further frustration as a new ash cloud drifts towards the UK.

Some 150,000 Britons have been stranded abroad in the wake of an eruption from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland that has thrown an enormous cloud of potentially hazardous ash into airspace over northern Europe. It had been hoped that the air was clearing and flights would be able to resume today but the eruption strengthened overnight.

Air traffic control company Nats said in an update shortly before 3am today: “Since our last statement at 9pm yesterday, the volcano eruption in Iceland has strengthened and a new ash cloud is spreading south and east towards the UK.

“This demonstrates the dynamic and rapidly changing conditions in which we are working.” Latest information from the Met Office shows that the situation is variable. Nats said it would provide further updates at around 9am today.

Newcastle Airport has also reopened for flights to and from Aberdeen and the Isle of Man.

It also said easyJet was hoping to operate a “very limited service” from late afternoon. Other airspace over England is expected to open from 1pm, not including the main London airports.

British Airways has cancelled all of its short-haul flights scheduled for today. The airline said it hoped to run long-haul flights scheduled to depart after 4pm, depending on a “full and permanent” opening of airspace.

Manchester Airport said it plans to open at 1pm at the earliest after initially hoping to open at 9am. But a spokeswoman said it would monitor further updates from Nats.

easyJet has cancelled all flights until at least 5pm in Northern Europe including the UK. A limited number of flights will operate in Southern Europe.

Earlier, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced plans to use Royal Navy vessels to bring home some of the Britons stranded abroad. A brand new £500m cruise ship, the Celebrity Eclipse, is due to leave Southampton at 9am for Bilbao to pick up around 2,000 British tourists at the port.

A meeting of the emergency planning committee Cobra, chaired by Mr Brown, was held last night to discuss the latest updates on the ash cloud.

A Downing Street spokesman said the committee agreed the Government should “continue to do whatever it can” to return stranded Britons to the UK. Another meeting will take place today.

Ministers met yesterday following a clamour from airlines to restore flights, with carriers including British Airways pointing to the success of test flights.

While travel organisations warned that it would be some time before travel and airports were back to normal, airlines were counting the cost of the disruption.
BA said the flight ban had cost it around £15m to £20m a day.

Willie Walsh, BA chief executive, questioned the necessity of the hitherto “blanket ban” on flights. The British Air Transport Association has written to Transport Secretary Lord Adonis asking him “to commit to standing behind the industry financially at this very difficult time”.

The International Air Transport Association was highly critical of the European response to the ash crisis. It estimated that it was costing the aviation industry around $200m (£130m) a day.

Source: Sky News