Priority to stranded elderly, disabled European airspace opens JEDDAH – Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAA) has resumed four flights to London Thursday after some European countries decided to lift flight restrictions as Iceland's volcano lost its fury. “Priority will be given for passengers with reservations,” said Ahmad Madani of Saudia's Public Relations Department. The national carrier has also confirmed that it will give priority, in its seat reservations, to the elderly and students with disabilities who are stranded in Europe. Authorities in several countries have deemed the dispersion of ash from the Icelandic volcano sufficient to permit air traffic and Saudia is expected to soon be operating all its 22 flights to Europe from Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam. Around 79 flights were canceled due to the restrictions. Madani said that no extra flights were planned, but larger aircraft may be drafted in to cope with the numbers of Saudis stranded across Europe. Saudia Deputy Director of Operations Sulaiman Amer assured that stranded passengers were being cared for in accordance with international regulations. “The law states that airline companies are obliged to care for their passengers in situations where flying is not possible,” Amer said. Abdullah Al-Hussaini, Director General of Saudia Passenger Service and Sales for Europe, said the authorities at the national carrier have decided to fly a wide-bodied Jumbo 474 instead of a Boeing 777 to accommodate stranded passengers. Al-Hussaini said Saudia has opened an additional customer service center operating round-the-clock. He said there is close cooperation between the national carrier and the Kingdom's embassies abroad to help accommodate stranded passengers. He said that the housing of passengers was a real problem because all the hotels in European countries are fully occupied. European airspace reopens As Iceland's volcano lost its fury Wednesday, European airspace reopened for business. Three-quarters of flights scheduled in Europe were on track to fly, said the body coordinating air traffic across the continent. All of Europe's main air hubs were up and running Wednesday and the Europe-wide coordinating body Eurocontrol said it expected some 21,000 flights to take place in European airspace, against a typical 28,000. In Europe's far north, Helsinki in Finland and airspace over the remote Scottish isles of Orkney and Shetland were temporarily reclosed due to still unsafe ash levels. But Iceland's other Nordic neighbors Norway, Denmark and Sweden lifted the last of their restrictions in a sign the worst of the threat had faded. Flights were finally cleared for landing at London's Heathrow airport on Tuesday night, but BA flew around two dozen long-haul planes back to Britain even before the no-fly zone was lifted. Some were initially turned away and forced to land at other airports but there were scenes of jubilation on other planes when pilots announced they had been cleared to land at Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport. British Airways said they were hoping to operate all long-haul flights from Heathrow and Gatwick as normal Wednesday. Germany's Lufthansa, Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers, said it would fly at full capacity on Thursday by operating around 1,800 flights compared to the 700 it was able to run on Wednesday. Dutch airline KLM expected to resume all inter-continental flights and about 70 percent of flights in Europe. All long-haul passenger services from Paris' main international hub Charles de Gaulle were operating as scheduled; while Air France said it had flown 40,000 stranded people back home since Tuesday. In Iceland, the civil protection agency said the volcano had lost nearly 80 percent of its intensity. “Explosive activity has diminished. Ash production has gone down. It's really insignificant right now,” said Pall Einarsson, a seismologist from Iceland's Institute of Earth Sciences. Einarsson, however, said the volcano had “not gone to sleep” and that it was impossible to predict when it would stop erupting.
