Airports reopen across Europe

After six days of an air traffic crisis, European aviation authorities have allowed almost half of the scheduled flights to take to the skies.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the restoration of full timetables may take six more days as hundreds of planes are out of position and thousands of passengers are stranded.

Over 95,000 flights were canceled across Europe last week after a volcano in Iceland erupted, sending massive ash clouds across the continent.

The April 14 airspace shutdown, which is believed to be the biggest aerial shutdown since World War II, is said to have cost airlines more than $1 billion.

IATA issued a statement on Tuesday, saying "This crisis is costing airlines at least $200 million a day in lost revenues and the European economy is suffering billions of dollars in lost business."

Aviation officials say all airspace above 20,000 feet was open for flights with the exception of Finland's airspace.

Meanwhile, in Iceland, police said the plume of ash from the Eyjafjoell volcano was diminishing but warned that there was "still considerable volcanic activity at the site and three seemingly separate craters are still erupting."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123914§ionid=351020606.