Skies opening for aviation over Europe

Germany's air traffic controllers extended a partial flight ban until 8 am (0600 GMT) on Wednesday, as air traffic across Europe slowly picked up after a cloud of volcanic ash brought the industry to a standstill for several days.

Airlines were allowed to fly jets by visual flight rules, where the pilot, not the ground tower, is in control, the air traffic control authority said.

Four German airports - Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin-Tegel and Berlin-Schonefeld - are exempted from the ban and are expected to operate normally. Officials said that there were "good chances" that all of Germany's airspace would be reopened until evening.

Flights had been suspended for fear that dust from an Icelandic volcano could turn into a glassy substance inside jet engines, damaging them.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office said Wednesday that the troublesome volcano under the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier was spewing only a little smoke and ash. The smoke plume was reaching a height of three km, compared with 11 km a few days ago, it said.

The meteorologists added that the winds changed in the area, blowing the ash north instead of east toward Europe.

Most other European countries lifted flight bans Tuesday. Britain, one the countries worst affected by the ash cloud, reopened its airspace late Tuesday.

Britain's Civil Aviation Authority said the flight bans had been lifted after a reassessment of risks, but there would continue to be some no-fly zones, where concentrations of ash are at "levels unsafe for flights."

Airlines are now working to clear the backlog of hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded at airports around the world. On Tuesday, three quarters of Europe's airspace had been reopened, the European air safety authority Eurocontrol said.

International Civil Aviation Organisation President Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez of Mexico said Tuesday in New York that European skies were now safe for aircraft, as authorities on the continent begin to lift flight restrictions.