Airports, Ash Cloud | featured news

Meanwhile, some German airports were reopened Wednesday after cancellations due to the cloud of volcanic ash. Bremen has reopened and Hamburg is allowing takeoffs and landings, according to Deutsche Flugsicherung, the German aviation safety agency. Airports in Berlin will resume flights at 2 p.m. local time ( 8 a.m. ET).

Britain and the Netherlands shut or planned to close major airports because of volcanic ash from Iceland on Monday, threatening large-scale air traffic disruption in Europe at the start of the working week.

Fifteen Spanish airports will be closed Saturday afternoon because of ash blowing from an Icelandic volcano, aviation officials said.

Airports in Ireland and parts of Britain were closed for hours on Tuesday because of a cloud of volcanic ash drifting south from Iceland that shut European airspace last month and could threaten summer holiday travel.

New eruptions send volcanic ash cloud toward Britain and threaten plans to resume flights.