Airlines resume flights as ash cloud recedes

Mumbai: As European skies cleared up, airlines resumed normal services to and from Heathrow and other airports on Wednesday, a day after they operated some flights on partial opening of airports across the continent.
Thousands of passengers have been stranded at airports around the world since April 15 as Icelandic volcanic ash forced many European airports to close their airspaces.
But even as airlines announced resumption of flights, fliers like Nayana Dutia, booked on a Mumbai-London Jet Airways flight, were not sure till the last minute whether their flights would take off.
On Tuesday, Dutia’s flight was cancelled after passengers had boarded the aircraft. “Yesterday, we boarded the flight, but it got cancelled. This time we think we will make it to London,” he said. Dutia’s flight took off from Mumbai at 1.35 pm on Wednesday.
Several other flights left and reached Indian airports as per schedule — not just to and from Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna and other continental airports, but London’s Heathrow too.
All international carriers, including Air India (AI), Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Lufthansa, British Airways, Swiss International Airlines, Austria Airlines and Singapore Airlines, have fully resumed operations to Europe.
A statement issued by the ministry of civil aviation said: “AI has resumed its daily flights to Paris and Frankfurt besides New York and Chicago. Jet Airways has resumed its flights to London from Delhi and Mumbai.”
21/04/10 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Foreign Apr 2010, Indian Aviation- In General Apr 2010