Air travel chaos: Scottish flights make another bid to take off

• An Edinburgh airport worker takes advantage of the absence of planes to check the runway yesterday. Picture: Julie Bull

Air traffic control company Nats said the latest information from the Met Office showed the "situation was worsening" in some areas but that Scottish airspace should open as planned from 7am this morning.

In a statement last night, Nats said: "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."

Irish airline Aer Lingus was planning to run six flights between Dublin and Edinburgh and Glasgow, and one between Edinburgh and Cork today.

Flybe was due to start operating services again from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness from 10:05am – the first flight will be from Edinburgh to Belfast City – and 17 of its services were due to take off.

In addition, an Icelandair flight from Keflavik International airport in Iceland was expected to land in Glasgow at 12:05pm.

Nats said more airspace could reopen over England from 1pm – but much will depend on what is happening with the Icelandic volcano.

Bmi plans to resume UK domestic flights from Heathrow at 7pm and from regional UK airports from 1pm.

Emirates, Thomson, Thomas Cook, British Airways and Virgin are expected to operate some flights, but not yet a normal schedule.

BA said it hoped to operate long-haul flights from London from 4pm, and short-haul flights, including to and from Scotland, from 7pm.

A spokesman stressed it would be unable to operate flights until the airspace over the south-east of England was cleared for use.

The airline runs only short-haul flights to Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports from Scotland.

A BA spokesman said: "All flights are subject to approval from Nats and the UK government, and customers booked to travel should check online before they travel."

The news of a likely resumption of flights will come as a massive relief to the 150,000 British travellers stranded abroad – although the backlog is likely to take days to clear. More than 2,000 Scottish teachers missed school yesterday, having been stranded overseas after the Easter breaks.

Airlines had attacked the blanket nature of the flight ban, and European aviation officials were accused of "no co-ordination and no leadership".

The International Air Transport Association described the flight bans, imposed progressively across northern Europe since last Thursday, as "embarrassing" and a "mess". Airlines, including BA, had lobbied for a relaxation.

European Union transport ministers responded last night by provisionally agreeing to split the continent's skies into three zones, starting from today, while the ash cloud continues to cause problems.

There will be "no fly", "restricted" and "fly" zones – with airlines rather than aviation authorities deciding whether to operate in the "restricted" and "fly" zones.

BA said a test flight on Sunday night had encountered no problems, but several Nato F-16 fighters were said to have suffered engine damage after flying through the ash cloud. Glass-like deposits were found inside the engines.

Flybe announced the resumption of flights across northern Britain from 10am, including between Scottish airports and Belfast, and later to Manchester, Birmingham and Norwich.

Loganair, which operates flights to the Highlands and Islands for Flybe, plans to run 78 of its 102 services today. Flights are also due to restart between Edinburgh and Dublin.

EasyJet said all its flights to and from northern Europe, including from Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, would be grounded until 5pm today.

But BAA, which operates Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports – along with Heathrow and Stansted – warned travellers to check with their airline before setting out.

A BA spokesman warned of delays because nearly 3,000 crew were in the wrong places overseas, together with more than 80 aircraft, which would require detailed checks. The airline has lost up to 20 million a day from the disruption.

Virgin Atlantic also plans to resume some flights today. However, Ryanair, Europe's largest airline which operates from Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Prestwick, said it planned to continue to cancel all services until 1pm tomorrow and the holiday airline Thomson said it did not expect to resume flights from Britain until Thursday.

Germany's aviation authority yesterday granted Lufthansa permission to fly 50 long-haul flights back to the country, with about 15,000 passengers aboard. It was being done under "visual flight rules" – flying without relying on instruments – and below 18,000ft, half the normal height for passenger planes.

Nats said airspace as far south as Blackpool and Teesside would reopen at 7am today.

It said its decision to ground passenger flights had been based on information from the Met Office and rules on flying in volcanic ash which are set by the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organisation.

A spokesman earlier said: "The volcanic eruption has reduced and the volcano is not currently emitting ash to altitudes that will affect the UK.

"Assuming there are no further significant ash emissions, we are now looking at a continuously improving situation. This is a dynamic and changing situation and is, therefore, difficult to forecast beyond 7am.

"However, the latest Met Office advice is the contaminated area will continue to move south, with the possibility that restrictions above England and Wales, including the London area, may be lifted later (today]."

Fewer than one-third of European flights operated yesterday – 8,700 out of 28,000 – with airline losses reported to have reached 655m. Flights were grounded as far east as Finland and Ukraine. However, airports in southern Europe remained open, with Spain offering to become an emergency hub.

Virgin Trains, which operates on the west coast main line, put on nearly 4,800 extra seats yesterday, and East Coast ran extra and extended services on the east coast main line. More than 5,000 people have travelled on National Express coaches to Scotland since last Thursday, while Megabus has carried an extra 2,100 passengers.