Dubai-based Emirates Airline plans to operate flights to many European destinations tomorrow (April 21). But the situation remains fluid and subject to change, it said.

The destinations include Paris, Nice, Vienna, Zurich, Istanbul, Moscow, Larnaca, Rome, Athens and Malta. Flights to the UK are cancelled through to 10 am local time (6 am GMT) on April 21, the airline said.

About 100,000 Emirates passengers have been affected by the cancellation of flights to European destinations due to the volcanic ash clouds.

At the height of the disruption, Emirates was accommodating about 6,000 people in hotels across Dubai. That figure is gradually being reduced as European airspace re-opens, it said. 
 
Emirates estimates that around 20,000 of its passengers are being inconvenienced for each day that the disruption continues. The airline has been losing around $10 million per day and a fifth of the fleet has been grounded.
 
Nearly 600 flight deck and cabin crew are also stranded throughout Europe. The longer the situation goes on, the more complicated the recovery becomes, it said.
 
'In terms of the contingency plan, once flights begin operating, we will do our very best to take care of passengers whose trips were first disrupted. Passengers have been very patient and we are grateful for that. We ask everyone to bear with us,' the statement said. - TradeArabia News Service