Many flights to Europe resume from Asia-Pacific

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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina distributing certificates among the graduates at the certificate awarding ceremony for the Course of Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC)-2011-2012 at Mirpur Cantonment in the city Thursday. — PID Photo

SYDNEY, Apr 21 (AFP): Thousands of Europe-bound passengers were flying out of Asia-Pacific airports Wednesday, as the region's airlines estimated they were losing US$ 40 million a day to the aerial lockdown.
Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Virgin flights were taking off from Australia and New Zealand while Air China announced that all its Europe flights would also be departing.
Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific said it would run four flights to London and one each to Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam Wednesday and early Thursday. Flights to Rome and Milan would also resume.
Manila's only direct flight to Europe, a KLM service to Amsterdam, left on schedule Wednesday morning.
Aircraft accelerating down runways marked what the industry hopes will be the end of an almost week-long lockdown caused by ash spewed from an Icelandic volcano.
Thousands of flights have been cancelled and hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded worldwide after European authorities designated much of the continent a no-fly zone due to ash clouds spewing from the volcano since last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, VOA- News.com adds: The European air traffic control agency (Eurocontrol) says about 75 per cent of flights will operate in Europe Wednesday, as countries start to lift restrictions caused by a huge cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland.
The airspace over several countries, including Britain and Germany, was being reopened after the volcanic ash grounded air travel and stranded passengers across Europe for days.