In Europe,flights begin to rise from ash,but new cloud looms

European airports slowly started to return to life on Tuesday after five days cut off from the world due to a huge ash cloud....

European airports slowly started to return to life on Tuesday after five days cut off from the world due to a huge ash cloud,but some airspace stayed closed after reports suggest a new plume from Iceland may be on its way south.

Italy,Switzerland and France reopened their airports early on Tuesday though many flights remained cancelled,and in Italy only a handful took off in the morning. Hungary,Slovenia and Moldova also resumed flights.

But Britains National Air Traffic Service,which controls UK airspace,said much of Britains airspace would remain closed to flights below 20,000 feet until late Tuesday after traffic controllers warned a new ash cloud was headed for major air routes.

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The European Union,which announced on Monday that its members had reached a deal to reduce the size of the no-fly zone starting early Tuesday,acknowledged that progress was slow.

We know there are still a lot of problems for passengers on the ground, spokeswoman for the executive European Commission Helen Kearns told a briefing. We are faced with an unprecedented crisis. The disruption will continue over the week.

Germany said it would maintain its no-fly zone until evening,with exceptions. Finland and parts of Sweden and Norway were also closed. But some airlines were taking advantage of the exceptions to fly.

Under Mondays EU agreement,which followed enormous pressure from airlines losing an estimated $250 million a day,flights may be permitted in areas with a lower concentration of ash,subject to local assessments and scientific advice. But exactly how national authorities would split European airspace into areas where aircraft could fly or not was not clear,and many countries were adopting a cautious approach.

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The unprecedented disaster has stranded millions of people at the end of the busy Easter holiday season and one analyst estimated it could end up costing global passenger airlines and cargo companies as much as $3 billion.

The meteorological office in Iceland said although the volcano was still erupting steadily under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier about 120 km southeast of the capital Reykjavik,it was actually emitting less ash and more lava than previously,creating a lower cloud.

Several airlines were conducting test flights on Tuesday to gather details and data. European planemaker Airbus said it took advantage of scheduled test flights to check for the impact of ash on Monday and found nothing abnormal.