All UK airports have been cleared to reopen overnight, including London Heathrow.

However assuming air space remains open it will take days if not weeks to reduce the backlog of passengers stranded in European cities, and transit hubs across Asia.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority Tuesday night (London time) issued approval for all UK airports to reopen. The CAA said "detailed consultation" with experts to assess the tolerance of planes to the ash cloud had proved positive.

In a statement, the authority said: "The new guidance allows a phased reintroduction from 2200 tonight of much of the airspace which is currently closed due to the volcanic ash plume over the UK.

"There will continue to be some 'no fly zones' where concentrations of ash are at levels unsafe for flights to take place, but very much smaller than the present restrictions.

Furthermore, the Met Office advises that the 'no fly zones' do not currently cover the UK. Making sure that air travellers can fly safely is the CAA's overriding priority."

As airlines issue new details of their service resumptions, we will update this page throughout the day.


EMIRATES:

Emirates Airline says it is working to ensure that customers whose travel has been disrupted by the volcanic ash clouds can be moved on as quickly as possible.

As of Wednesday morning, Emirates is not accepting passengers from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Perth, or from connecting regional cities through our partnership with Virgin Blue, for travel to any destinations in the UK or Germany until at least 10am Australian EST, Friday April 23.

Passengers will be accepted for flights operating to all other Emirates destinations in Europe in Switzerland, France, Italy, Austria, Turkey, Malta, Cyprus, Greece and Russia, but the situation remains fluid and subject to change. We are closely monitoring developments.

Around 100,000 passengers around the network have been affected. At the height of the disruption, Emirates was accommodating about 6000 people in hotels across Dubai. That figure is gradually being reduced as European airspace re-opens.

Emirates estimates that around 20,000 of its passengers are being inconvenienced for each day that the disruption continues. The airline has been losing around $10 million per day and a fifth of the fleet has been grounded.

Nearly 600 flight deck and cabin crew are also stranded throughout Europe. The longer the situation goes on, the more complicated the recovery becomes.

In terms of the contingency plan, once flights begin operating, we will do our very best to take care of passengers whose trips were first disrupted.

Customers are advised to go to www.emirates.com/au for the latest flight information, which is updated every five minutes. The airline says passengers should NOT to go to the airport without a confirmed booking.


MALAYSIA AIRLINES:

Malaysia Airlines plans to resume its scheduled flights to London, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt from Wednesday afternoon, Malaysian time.

This applies to the below flights:
April 21 from Kuala Lumpur to:

London (MH4) retimed to depart 5.00pm
London (MH2) scheduled to depart 11.40pm
Amsterdam (MH16) scheduled to depart 11.55pm
Paris (MH20) scheduled to depart 11.35pm
Frankfurt (MH6) scheduled to depart 11.50pm

April 22 to Kuala Lumpur from:

London (MH1) retimed to depart 6.00am
London (MH3) scheduled to depart 12.00noon
Amsterdam (MH17) scheduled to depart 12.00noon
Paris (MH21) scheduled to depart 12.00noon
Frankfurt (MH5) scheduled to depart 12.30pm

Scheduled flights to Rome are not affected and will operate as normal.

Only customers with confirmed bookings for travel on April 21 are advised to proceed to the airport. Stranded passengers should contact the dedicated telephone line 03-7884 1234 to re-book flights, subject to seat availability. Customers without confirmed seats are advised not to travel to the airport.

In addition, customers can still continue to call the MAS Call Center 1300-88-3000 (within Malaysia) or 603-7843 3000 (outside Malaysia).Customers who have mobile phones are encouraged to register their numbers with Malaysia Airlines for ease of notification via SMS.

Malaysia Airlines director of operations, Captain Azharuddin Osman said, “All efforts are being made to get our passengers to their final destinations as soon as possible.

We are also looking to mount additional flights to London, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt on Thursday, 22 April. However, passengers are advised to be mindful that the situation remains fluid and our flights will be subject to airspace and airports being open.

Before proceeding to the airport, passengers are urged to check the flight status on www.malaysiaairlines.com or via the Call Centre,” he said.

Between April 15 and 20, Malaysia Airlines cancelled 46 flights involving 14,000 passengers system-wide.


QATAR:

Qatar Airways began operating flights to the UK and France overnight as part of its efforts to repatriate passengers stranded in Doha back to both countries.

Two wide-body aircraft originally scheduled to operate flights from Doha to London Heathrow and Manchester respectively, flew to the Scottish city of Edinburgh.

Another aircraft, originally scheduled for Paris, was re-routed to the French provincial city of Lyon. All three flights carried a full load of transit and ex-Doha departing passengers to the UK and France.

The Doha-based carrier has made arrangements to provide these passengers with road or rail transport from Edinburgh to either Manchester or London, and from Lyon to Paris.

The aircraft will remain positioned in Edinburgh and Lyon to fly Qatar Airways’ passengers stranded in the UK and France back to Doha and onwards to other cities in the airline’s network. Arrangements are also being made to provide surface transport for returning passengers from London, Manchester and Paris via Edinburgh and Lyon.

Qatar Airways has been working with the UK and French authorities to find a window of opportunity to fly amid the current uncertainty surrounding flights to and from affected European countries. Qatar has cancelled more than 135 flights to and from Europe since last Thursday for safety reasons.

Flying schedules to affected destinations are being updated regularly on Qatar Airways’ website www.qatarairways.com.


THAI AIRWAYS

Thai Airways resumed some flights to Europe overnight following the reopening of airspace over Zurich. The first flight left approximately 12.30am Wednesday local time.

A return flight departs from Zurich at 11.30am (local time) and arrives in Bangkok at 5.30pm.

Additional flights have been arranged for Bangkok-Rome v.v. and Bangkok-Madrid v.v. as follows:

Regular flights for Rome, operating on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday:

- TG944, Bangkok-Rome, departs Bangkok at 12.20am (local time) and arrives in Rome at 6.50am.
- TG945, Rome-Bangkok, departs Rome at 1.55pm (local time) and arrives in Bangkok at 5.35am.

Special flights for Rome, operating daily flights from 19 to 28 April 2010:

- Bangkok-Rome, departs Bangkok at 1am (local time) and arrives in Rome at 7.30am.
- Rome-Bangkok, departs Rome at 2.30pm (local time) and arrives in Bangkok at 6.10am.

Regular flights for Madrid, operating on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday:

- TG948, Bangkok-Madrid, departs Bangkok at 12.05am (local time) and arrives in Madrid at 8am.
- TG949, Madrid-Bangkok, departs Madrid at 1pm (local time) and arrives in Bangkok at 6.05am.

Special flights for Madrid, operating on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday from 22 to 28 April 2010:

- Bangkok-Madrid, departs Bangkok at 1.30am (local time) and arrives in Madrid at 9.25am.
- Madrid-Bangkok, departs Madrid at 1.30pm (local time) and arrives in Bangkok at 6.35am.

Passengers who are Thai nationals in the UK needing to travel on a Thai flight via EU countries to Thailand may contact the Thai Sales Office in the UK which will assist in coordinating with the Embassy to issue a travel visa through the EU country.

Passengers may call the Thai Contact Center in Bangkok to check flight information and make reservations at 02-356-1111 (24 hours), fax. 02-356-2222, Email :

contact@service.thaiairways.com, website : www.thaiairways.com , or contact the THAI Sales Offices in Europe in order to re-book travel for passengers whose flights have been cancelled and need to change flight routing.

The company says it will waive all fees for changing flight route or issuance of a new ticket from Europe to Thailand and from Thailand to Europe for Thai ticket holders. Passengers are advised that the order of priority of passengers for travel is based on reservation sequence.


VIRGIN ATLANTIC:

Virgin Atlantic will resume flights from Sydney to London via Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon, with the daily scheduled flight VS201 scheduled to depart at 2.25pm.

Virgin Atlantic advises that only passengers holding a confirmed booking on today's flight should go to the airport. Those passengers who do not hold a booking for today's flight and have been disrupted by the events of the past week are advised NOT to go to the airport and to contact their travel agent, or if they booked directly with Virgin Atlantic call 1300 727 340.

Virgin Atlantic says its staff are working around the clock in order to get displaced passengers home as quickly as possible, but it is likely the backlog will take time to clear.