Scottish Flights Resume After Ash Cloud

Theres better news on the ash cloud as it seems to have cleared over the UK with Scottish aiports up and running again but it's now hovering over Germany.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled yesterday and many others delayed, leaving some passengers to sleep in airport terminals as the ash cloud moved into UK airspace.

There was some relief today though as the skies reopened after the ash cloud moved east overnight.

At Glasgow Airport there were no cancellations and only a handful of delays to flights bound for Verona, Ibiza, Dublin and Paris.

A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport said: "We had six cancellations today based on planes being out of position. We are running an almost full schedule now but there may be some disruption due to flights to Germany.

Almost all the flights were cancelled on Monday."

British Red Cross members were also at Edinburgh Airport earlier this week, helping those stranded.

Around 40 volunteers worked round the clock on a rota basis from Monday evening, distributing blankets, hygiene kits and bottled water to individuals and families caught up in the disruption.

Last night, David Miller, Red Cross operations director for Fife Lothian and Borders, said: "Our volunteers have responded magnificently to this situation and I am very proud of them.

The Red Cross is a humanitarian organisation and as such we are supporting the management of Edinburgh Airport to meet the needs of the passengers stranded because of the ash cloud."

The teams were also at the airport this morning.

Yesterday, Scots regional airline Loganair had scrapped 38 flights between 6am and 1pm and no passengers arrived or left from Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

Around 400 people stayed at Edinburgh Airport on Monday night and around 80 last night after hundreds of flights were axed.

Yesterday, Ryanair carried out a test flight at up to 41,000ft in Scottish airspace, taking a plane from Glasgow Prestwick to Inverness and on to Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said the test flight through a "red zone" in Scotland found no evidence of volcanic ash.

He castigated the CAA and the Met Office, saying the red zone was "mythical".