Flights from Asia, Africa and America began landing in Britain last night after air regulators eased restrictions that had closed the skies because of the volcanic ash cloud. The first to arrive was a British Airways flight from Vancouver at 10pm. A further nine arrivals were expected last night, including from Las Vegas, Delhi, Abuja, Mumbai and Bangkok, after the Government lifted restrictions on landings after 11.30pm. Another 11 were expected to land from 5am this morning, an hour before Heathrow’s normal opening time. The arrivals were allowed after aviation authorities accepted new European guidelines reducing greatly the size of the no-fly zone. The breakthrough, which will begin to allow the 150,000 British air passengers stranded around the world to fly home, came after a meeting between carriers, regulators and Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary. Last night Lord Adonis denied having bowed to pressure from the airlines. “They have wanted to be able to fly their planes — of course they have — but that has not been the issue at stake here,” he told the BBC Two programme Newsnight when asked how much pressure the Government had come under. “Having to assess safe levels of ash content in the atmosphere within which planes can fly has been an urgent issue which the safety authorities have had to deal with. That’s what’s changed — it’s not been pressure from the industry.” The Civil Aviation Authority, which sets rules on UK airspace, said that it had been convinced after assurances from engine and aircraft manufacturers that safety would not be compromised if flights were allowed to pass through areas with some ash pollution. “Our way forward is based on international data and evidence from previous volcanic ash incidents, new data from test flights and additional analysis from manufacturers over the past few days,” said Dame Deirdre Hutton, the CAA chairwoman. “It is a conservative model allowing a significant buffer on top of the level the experts feel may pose a risk.” Theresa Villiers, the Shadow Transport Secretary, demanded an inquiry into the “fiasco”. She said: “Six days into the crisis, we’re suddenly told that there are actually levels of ash which are compatible with safe flying. The question angry passengers and airlines are already asking is why the Government hadn’t worked this out before the crisis occurred.” The airlines were delighted at the prospect of being able to bring stranded passengers home at last. They will also begin to recoup losses of $1 billion. BAA, which owns Heathrow, said the disruption had cost it £6 million a day. Willie Walsh, the BA chief executive, said: “I don’t believe it was necessary to impose a blanket ban on all UK airspace last Thursday. My personal belief is that we could have safely continued operating for a period of time.” David Learmount, of Flight International magazine, said that National Air Traffic Services had acted logically in shutting down airspace but added: “In the light of history it may be seen that they could have run some services.” Airports and airlines had watched European aircraft fly high above Britain throughout the day after national regulators relaxed a ban in Germany, France, the Netherlands and other countries. Their counterparts on the Continent were able to fly hundreds of flights to and from long-haul destinations where more than five million people remain stranded. BA advised passengers to expect cancellations, particularly of short-haul flights, until this afternoon at least. EasyJet planned to resume some services across the UK and continental Europe from this morning but said that it would take days to resume normal operations and delays were likely. Virgin Atlantic Airways said it hoped to resume some services from today. The Times
