European Union transport ministers today agreed to gradually ease restrictions in place in European airspace since an Icelandic volcano started hurling ash into the atmosphere.
A source at the Spanish presidency of the EU said an area immediately around the volcano would remain closed and that ministers had proposed the "progressive and co-ordinated" opening of airspace in a second zone farther from the volcano.
"From tomorrow morning we should see more planes flying," EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas told a news conference after the ministers held a video conference.
He said the agreement would go into force at 6am GMT tomorrow, adding: "There will be no compromise on safety." Mr Kallas said the 27-country bloc's transport ministers would hold further emergency talks to discuss the economic impact of the ash cloud but did not say when.
According to the commissioner, the volcanic ash cloud could deal a bigger economic blow to the airline industry than September 11th.
Airlines had today pressed for governments to reopen European airspace, and the European Commission said it may approve compensation to cushion losses of €200 million a day.
Some air traffic in and out of Ireland may resume on a phased basis from 5am tomorrow morning, but normal operations are not expected to be in place for three or four days, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said this afternoon.
Millions of passengers around the world have been stranded or had their travel disrupted as a huge cloud of ash from the volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland forced the closure of airspace across Europe five days ago.
Over the weekend only a fifth of normal flights were flown and figures released by European aviation control agency Eurocontrol show 80,000 fewer flights in Europe since Thursday compared to the same period a week ago. Eurocontrol said it expected between 8,000 and 9,000 flights to operate in Europe today.
Some European airports reopened to limited traffic today as skies cleared but others kept no-fly decrees in place.
Austria and the Czech Republic opened their airports. Italy closed its northern airspace after briefly opening it today, while Stockholm's Arlanda Airport was reopening for limited air traffic after the country's aviation authority lifted airspace restrictions over a large part of the country.
Britain's Met Office released a graphic predicting little movement of the ash plume over Europe today, but saw it spreading towards the eastern seaboard of North America. "The wind flow is staying very much the same through the day. Probably for the next three or four days the wind regime is not going to change terribly much," a Met Office spokesman said.
European Union trade commissioner Karel De Gucht said the EU's economy will face serious consequences if the disruption continues for a long time. "What makes me a little bit afraid is that there is no timer on this volcano," he said.
Airlines have called for a review of no-fly decrees after conducting test flights at the weekend without any apparent problems from the ash cloud.
Airlines including KLM, Air France and Lufthansa safely flew test flights without passengers over Europe yesterday, and a British Airways test flight spent about 40 minutes in Irish airspace yesterday. KLM said most European airspace was safe despite the plume of ash, and dispatched two commercial freight flights to Asia yesterday.
But engine damage was found in a Nato F-16 fighter plane, underscoring the dangers to aircraft flying through the ash cloud. Volcanic ash is abrasive and can strip off aerodynamic surfaces. In high temperatures of an engine turbine, fragments of ash can turn to molten glass and paralyse the engine.
Airline shares fell in early trade today, and European Union competition chief Joaquin Almunia said the EU Commission is considering easing stringent rules for state aid to airlines. British Airways, which says it has lost up to €30 million a day in passenger and freight revenue, said it had asked the EU and national governments for compensation.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) accused European governments of responding inadequately to the volcano crisis. "We must move away from this blanket closure and find ways to flexibly open air space, step by step," IATA head Giovanni Bisignani told a news briefing in Paris. "We have to make decisions based on the real situation and not on theoretical models. They (the authorities) have missed opportunities to fly safely."
In Britain, companies reported staff had been unable to get back from Easter holidays abroad and hospitals said they were cancelling some operations because surgeons were stuck abroad.
Businesses dependent on fast air freight felt the early impact of the disruption. Kenya's flower exporters said they were already losing up to $2 million a day. Kenya accounts for about a third of flower imports into the European Union.
Some food suppliers were also feeling the effects. "We are running short of tuna from Indian Ocean, Victoria perch from Africa, basil from Cyprus and other fresh herbs from Israel, lobster from Canada and green asparagus from California," said Thomas Kosmidis, at Frankfurt wholesaler Venos, which supplies mainly restaurants.
Iceland's Meteorological Office said the erupting volcano appeared to be spewing more steam and less ash into the sky. "There is at least some lava bursting up from the craters and landing on the ice," geologist Hjorleifur Sveinbjornsson said. "The colour of the steam is brown but also quite white so it is more like water vapourising".
British prime minister Gordon Brown said Britain would deploy three Royal Naval ships - including an aircraft carrier - to bring home citizens. British travel agents' association ABTA said it estimated 150,000 Britons were stranded abroad. "At no time in living memory has British airspace been shut down and affected this many people," said a spokeswoman.
The crisis is having an impact on international diplomacy, with Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani becoming the latest leader to abandon a visit to Europe. A joint IMF and European Union mission to Greece was also delayed.