Tuesday evening: Airport shutdown continues over Yorkshire

Air traffic control company Nats said flights before 1am on Wednesday will now only be allowed in eastern Scotland and part of northern England, excluding Leeds Bradford International Airport, Humberside Airport and Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield.

Nats said in an update earlier on Tuesday: "Since our last statement at 9pm yesterday, the volcano eruption in Iceland has strengthened and a new ash cloud is spreading south and east towards the UK.

"This demonstrates the dynamic and rapidly changing conditions in which we are working. Latest information from the Met Office shows that the situation is variable."

While travel organisations warned that it would be some time before travel and airports were back to normal, airlines were counting the cost of the disruption, which has seen a shutdown of UK airports since the end of last week.

BA said the flight ban had cost it around 15 million to 20 million a day. Willie Walsh, BA chief executive, questioned the necessity of the hitherto "blanket ban" on flights, also said that European carriers had asked the EU and national governments for financial compensation.

The British Air Transport Association, with signatories and support from all major UK airlines, wrote to Transport Secretary Lord Adonis asking the Government "to commit to standing behind the industry financially at this very difficult time".

British Airways announced it cancelled all short-haul flights on Tuesday based on the latest information about the volcanic ash cloud.

Stressing that passenger safety remained "paramount", Prime Minister Gordon Brown said experts were looking at opening sections of airspace where it became available.

He also said the Government was putting in place arrangements to bring stranded Britons home if they could reach ports on the other side of the Channel.

Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle all had flights either leaving or departing today - the first services at UK airports for several days.

Iona Mactaggart, 43, who flew to Stornoway on the first flight out of Glasgow today, said: "It's a flight we booked a long time ago. We flew into Glasgow on Friday. We were down for a family occasion. I do feel for all the people stuck abroad.

"I think if we had been delayed a few more days, we would have been worried."

The first service in or out of Newcastle airport was an Eastern Airways flight from Aberdeen which arrived at around 9.30am.

Manchester airport, which had originally hoped to open at 9am and which put this time back to 1pm, announced that it would not open before 7pm at the earliest.

British Airways cancelled plans to operate some short-haul flights from 7pm today.

British Airways was able to operate its first flight since Saturday, with a Boeing 777 taking off today from Beijing.

BA said it hoped the plane could land at Heathrow if flight restrictions for southern England were lifted later. If not, the aircraft will land in Scotland or at a European destination.

A BA spokesman said: "We are hoping to get a number of in-bound, long-haul flights away today."

While airlines and airports planned their day in the light of the latest Nats announcement, the first of three Royal Navy warships began rescuing stranded Britons.

HMS Albion came alongside at Santander in northern Spain this morning and started loading about 250 troops and 200 civilians to take them back to the UK.

Another two Navy vessels, aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and commando helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, have also been deployed to rescue Britons stuck in Europe.

A Jet2.com plane left Newcastle International Airport at 11am on a rescue mission to pick up stranded passengers in Sharm el Sheikh.

The 757 will pick up 229 passengers from the Egyptian tourist resort to return them to the UK as soon as possible.

The flight is expected to land at Sharm el Sheikh International Airport this evening. Dependent on the situation regarding UK airspace and advice from Nats, it will then either transfer people back to the UK or to mainland Europe, to continue their journey by coach.

Ian Doubtfire, managing director of Jet2.com, said: "It is our absolute priority to get our passengers back to the UK as soon as we possibly can and we are currently in the process of a widescale repatriation programme to bring our passengers home.

"With today's clearance on airspace over Newcastle, we took the first opportunity we had to get our aircraft off the ground to help with this repatriation.

"It is fantastic at last to see one of our aircraft take to the skies over Newcastle and we hope that this is the first of many over the coming days.

"In the meantime, our team is working round the clock to get people home. We have deployed over 90 coaches and are currently transferring people by land from Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Canary Islands, Egypt, Cyprus, Israel and Italy."

For the second day, ferry company Norfolkline, which cannot take foot passengers, was carrying 49-seat coaches on some of its Dover-Dunkirk crossings. Coaches will also be accommodated on the route tomorrow.

European planemaking company Airbus, whose aircraft wings are made in the UK, said today that flight crew on two test flights it sent up yesterday "had not noticed anything abnormal" and post-flight inspections "showed no irregularities".

Taking off from Toulouse in southern France, an Airbus A380 superjumbo flew over French airspace in a flight of nearly four hours, while an Airbus A340, also flying from Toulouse, flew over French and German airspace on a five-hour journey.

"We have passed the information to the engine manufacturers and the airworthiness authorities to support them in evaluating safe conditions for flight," an Airbus spokesman said.

Ed Anderson, chairman of the Airport Operators Association which represents the interests of British airports, said: "The cost of ongoing disruption for airlines and airports industry alone is 130 million a day.

"Add to that the cost to businesses dependent on flights to move goods and people, and the effect on the wider economy is critical. The Government is also losing 5.5 million a day in (the airport departure tax) Air Passenger Duty."

He went on: "Many thousands of UK citizens remain stranded abroad, unable to get home. Unless the UK gets its policy on airspace closure into line with the rest of Europe, Britain will remain closed for business."

EasyJet said it was cancelling all its UK and northern Europe flights until 1am tomorrow.

The budget airline added that it would continue to operate a limited number of flights in southern Europe.

Shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers said: "This is a national crisis that demands strong unified action. That is why we offered Labour our support and our ideas, such as using the Royal Navy to help bring stranded Britons home from the continent.

"As the travel crisis caused by the Icelandic volcanic eruption enters its fifth day, stranded Britons abroad need a clear assurance from the Government that there is a strategy in place to help them and bring them home."

She went on: "But a number of issues are not clear and we have not had a detailed public statement from ministers since Sunday. The substantial backlog of flights is going to mean massive disruption for weeks to come but there have been no detailed public statements of how this will be handled.

"All political parties need to focus on exactly how we are going to get stranded Britons home as soon as possible, so clarity from Gordon Brown and his ministers is essential."

Ryanair said it would operate additional flights tomorrow and Thursday from the Canary Islands of Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Tenerife to Madrid.

This will allow those stuck on the islands to reach mainland Europe. Ryanair added that onward travel from Madrid would be at passengers' own expense.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said he would not compromise passenger safety, that all decisions on flying were solely to protect the public and that more test flights were planned.

He added that he had met with interested parties and further meetings were planned for later today.

Lord Adonis said: "Safety of air passengers remains my paramount concern. All decisions being taken by the aviation regulators are intended solely to protect the travelling public, and I will not compromise passenger safety.

"I have been in constant dialogue with European and UK regulators on establishing a safe flying regime in areas potentially affected by ash. I held a constructive meeting with airline chief executives and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) this morning.

"We took stock of work to collect and pool flight data, and information from engine and airframe manufacturers. This work is continuing today as a matter of urgency, including additional test flights, and I will be meeting with airlines, airport operators and the CAA again this evening."

Lord Adonis added that as well as having Royal Navy ships on standby to help stranded passengers, Eurostar, Eurotunnel and ferry companies were providing an extra 20,000 places a day.

British Airways said it had scrapped plans to operate some long-haul flights from Heathrow airport today.

The airline said: "Despite the fact that airspace over most European countries is open, UK airspace remains effectively closed.

"We deeply regret the great inconvenience caused to our customers as a result of Nats' decision to close UK airspace over the last six days.

"We hope to reach a position soon where we can begin repatriating customers in large numbers, and we are planning to operate a number of inbound long-haul flights today, subject to airspace restrictions.

"We understand the frustration our customers feel and we thank them for their patience. We assure them we are doing everything we can to resolve this situation."

Flybe, which had hoped to operate a number of services, said at 2pm it was cancelling all remaining flights for the rest of today.

The airline said that a decision about its flights for tomorrow was expected by 5pm today.

As well as its service from Beijing which departed this morning UK time, BA said it had been able to get away more than a dozen other inbound long-haul flights today.

These flights are mainly from the Far East and from the west coast of the US. They will land in London, if possible, or if not they will be diverted to other UK airports or to mainland Europe.

Apart from these flights, BA has cancelled all in-bound long-haul services due to arrive before 12 noon UK time tomorrow.