Iceland Volcano, Volcanic 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).

The spread of dense ash from the erupting Iceland volcano could force the cancellation of up to 500 commercial flights in Northern Ireland, Scotland and parts of Scandinavia, the European air traffic agency said Tuesday.

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

After two successive days of restrictions due to a plume of volcanic ash, airspace was reopened to all flights.

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.

Europe's skies were open for business on Wednesday but, with so many planes having been grounded by the volcanic ash from Iceland, it could take days or even weeks to clear the backlog.

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Four of Europe's five largest airports remain closed due to volcanic ash threat; U.K. sends warships to rescue stranded Britons.

The aviation industry sharply criticized European governments on Monday for their handling of airport closures, saying there ...

European air traffic could return to about 50 percent of normal levels Monday if weather forecasts confirm that skies over half the continent are emptying of the volcanic ash that has thrown global travel into chaos, the European Union said.

The prospects for a return to normal air travel remained far from clear, however.

A huge ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano spreading out across Europe is causing air travel chaos on a scale unseen since the September 11 attacks and costing airlines hundreds of millions of dollars.