The UK continues to remain closed while other countries such as Austria are opening their skies. France is scheduled to open flights later today for a window. The British tried a "spirit of Dunkirk" mission with small boats to help shuttle stranded British travelers back to the UK though somehow the French authorities blocked it. The UK is now reviewing the possibility of using the Navy to help. A few airlines flew test flights on Sunday and there were no issues reported so far. What's interesting to note is how this is also negatively impacting workers as far away as Africa who rely on trade. BBC:
But Brian Flynn, deputy head of operations for Eurocontrol, told the BBC that while half of the European landmass could be clear of ash cloud, that did not mean half of the flights could go ahead.
The flight bans came amid fears that the ash - a mixture of glass, sand and rock particles - can seriously damage aircraft engines.
The international airports council, ACI, said a total of 313 airports had been paralysed by the restrictions and the global backlog was affecting more than 6.8 million travellers.
In another development, hundreds of thousands of Kenyans working in agriculture, the country's largest export sector, face economic uncertainty because of the flight bans.
Refrigerated stores at Nairobi airport and on farms are now completely full, and a huge amount of fresh flowers and vegetables destined for the European market is in danger of perishing, the BBC's East Africa correspondent, Will Ross, reports.
