The ministers of transport of the EU, who held an extraordinary meeting on Monday via videoconference, agreed on the need to provide a joint response to the air crisis caused by the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano that allows for a "progressive and coordinated" reopening of European airspace with full guarantees of safety.

In an extraordinary meeting via videoconference due to air traffic problems, EU ministers of transport arranged a strategy for the progressive reopening of European airspace.

The Spanish Minister of Public Works, José Blanco, said that the EU-27 agreed with Eurocontrol, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, to divide the airspace into three zones based on their volcanic ash content, and to allow air operations in the area unaffected by the cloud since this morning.

At a press conference, the Spanish minister explained that the first of these zones is the region above the volcanic plume where there is still a strict no-fly zone. The second zone, covers an area where ash may be present but in which operations will be coordinated by the authorities of Member States. The third zone is the area unaffected by the ash and in which there are no flight restrictions.

The classification of each of these three zones will be defined over the next few hours using the existing technical reports from the test flights carried out on Sunday and Monday as well as using reports from Eurocontrol and the Vulcanological Institute.

Safety, an absolute priority

“We have made it clear that safety is an absolute priority" reiterated the Spanish minister, who went on to say that decisions will be taken based on these criteria and he stated that both he and his EU counterparts reject the criticism of some airlines about closing the airspace across a large part of Europe.

Blanco also said that while airspace is not fully operational, Member States and the European Commission will seek alternative transport methods to guarantee the mobility of European citizens. He announced the agreement with the UK government to use various Spanish airports as "hubs" to distribute British passengers on intercontinental flights, helping the mobility of some 200,000 people.

In relation to potential financial compensation for airlines, he confirmed that the only objective of the meeting of European ministers was to deal with citizens' mobility. Nevertheless, he explained that the President of the EU, José Manuel Durao Barroso, had already created a working committee to assess the consequences of this crisis.

Eurocontrol expects 40-45% of flights in European airspace on Tuesday to go ahead, compared to 30% on Monday