LONDON – Ashes from the Icelandic volcano has kept most of the airports in Europe closed for the fifth day, disrupting 8 million passengers worldwide and costing the airline industry $2 billion, the Center of Asia Pacific Aviation said.

Britain sent Royal Navy warships on Monday to rescue those stranded across the Channel by the volcanic ash cloud, and the aviation industry blasted European transport officials, claiming there was ""no coordination and no leadership"" in the crisis that shut down most European airports for a fifth day.
Eurocontrol, the air traffic agency in Brussels, said less than one-third of flights in Europe were taking off Monday — between 8,000 and 9,000 of the continent's 28,000 scheduled flights.
Germany’s aviation authority says it has granted Lufthansa permission to fly 50 planes back to Germany with about 15,000 passengers aboard.
Spokeswoman Cornelia Cramer said Monday that other airlines such as Air Berlin also have sought similar permission.
Domestic flights
On Monday the spokesman of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization said that “all of flights from Iran to Europe are cancelled” due to the volcanic ashes.
Reza Jafarzade in interview with Iran’s Mehr News Agency (MNA) said: “This situation affected Iran’s flight to Europe and on Monday there were no flights from Iran to Europe.
“On Monday 13 flights from Iran to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Vienna, London and Gutenberg (Sweden) were cancelled,” Jafarzade told MNA.
“Five of these flights belong to Homa and the rest are foreign airliners, including Lufthansa, KLM, BMI and Austrian Air Ways,” he added.
Passengers can call the Flight Information Center at Imam Khomeini Airport: 09633 or alternatively 021-55678556 to make enquiries about flights before leaving for the airport.
8,000 stranded in UAE
More than 8,000 transit passengers, some returning from vacation while others from business and work trips, are waiting for no-fly zones to ease in Europe at the airports in the United Arab Emirates.
The passengers are only too aware that even if flight restrictions are lifted, airlines need to deal with a massive backlog of passengers needing to reach their destinations.
Those on vacation trips had budgeted money and planned to return by Friday. But unexpected expenses for accommodations and meals during their involuntary stay in Dubai have caused financial strain. The same is true with tourists elsewhere.
Dubai-based Emirates says it is paying more than a million dollars a day for accommodation for around 6,000 passengers stranded in Dubai, while Etihad Airways in neighboring Abu Dhabi said it is paying for lodging for 2,500 passengers, without specifying the cost. Etihad said it does not believe it will be flying to Britain and Ireland in the next 24 hours, but that it is resuming flights to Milan on Monday.
Sign of hope
Meanwhile, scientists in Iceland offered some hope that conditions at the erupting volcano were easing. The new ash plume is lower, which would pose less of a threat to commercial aircraft in the future.
Geologists saw a red glow at the bottom of the volcano, suggesting the eruption is turning to lava flow and that there is less ice in the crater — which would reduce the plume.
""We hadn't seen that before,"" said Kristin Vogfjord, a geologist at the Icelandic weather office.
In Britain, leaders made contingency plans to bring people home. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and assault ship HMS Ocean would be sent across the English Channel. A third ship is being spent to Spain to pick up soldiers trying to get back to Britain after a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Brown said Britain was speaking with Spanish authorities to see whether Britons stranded overseas could be flown there and then taken home by boat or bus. Brown said the ash cloud had created ""the biggest challenge to our aviation transport network for many years.""
The International Air Transport Association says the airport lockdowns are costing the aviation industry at least $200 million a day. Millions of travelers have been stuck since the volcano under Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier begun erupting Wednesday for the second time in a month.
Several major airlines safely tested the skies with weekend flights that did not carry passengers. The announcement of successful test flights prompted some airline officials to wonder whether authorities had overreacted to concerns that the microscopic particles of volcanic ash could cause jet engines to fail.
Transport ministers from Britain, Germany, France and Spain were meeting Monday via videoconference and later joined by all 27 EU transport ministers, said French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau.
Eurocontrol said Monday that southern Europe, including Portugal, Spain, parts of Italy and France, the Balkans, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, and parts of northern Europe were currently open for flights.
EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas told reporters in Brussels that ""it is clear that this is not sustainable. We cannot just wait until this ash cloud dissipates.""
Photo Page 1: The disruption to air travel has left people stranded at airports the world over. Two women waited Sunday in Hong Kong. (Photo: Dale de la Rey/AFP)
Photo Page 3: Air Canada planes at Toronto's Pearson Airport. Volcanic ash from last week's eruption in Iceland could hit the eastern coast of Canada later on Monday, forecasters at Britain's Met Office said. (Photo: AFP/Thomas Cheng