Richard Branson, the boss of airline Virgin Atlantic, Saturday hit out at the decision to ground flights due to volcanic ash from Iceland, saying there had been "no danger at all to flying".

Branson also called on Britain's government to pay compensation to airlines, who have been left at least 1.7 billion dollars (1.3 billion euros) out of pocket, according to the airline industry umbrella body IATA.

"This was very much a government decision to ground the planes and we would suggest that the government should compensate the industry," Branson said in London.

"Behind the scenes, our engineers and all the experts were telling us that there was no danger at all to flying and that the danger would have been if we had flown close to Iceland through the volcano."

He added there were "plenty of corridors" which airlines could have flown through and said: "I think the government has accepted that there was overreaction.

"A blanket ban of the whole of Europe was not the right decision."

Clouds of ash from an Icelandic volcano caused a week of massive disruption and left hundreds of thousands of travellers stranded as many European countries closed their airspace, only reopening earlier this week.

Virgin Atlantic said it is receiving "many calls" from passengers offering to give up their seats for passengers who have been stranded by the volcanic ash.

It added that this will be possible without penalty for some flights subject to certain conditions.

Meanwhile, British Airways is asking customers with long haul bookings up to May 2 to consider giving up their seats to help stranded passengers get home.

earlier related report
Recriminations fly after aerial lockdown ends
London (AFP) April 22, 2010 - Europe gave the all-clear for its airspace on Thursday as recriminations flew over refunds for stranded passengers and the 1.7 billion dollar cost to the airline industry.

Iceland's Eyjafjjoell volcano, which paralysed the skies above Europe for nearly a week, continued erupting, prompting several small airports in Sweden to close.

Iceland also announced it would shut down its main airport on Friday.

But all the continent's major air hubs were up and running again at close to full capacity with airlines struggling to clear a huge backlog of passengers.

According to Eurocontrol, the body coordinating air traffic control across the continent, the volume of flights had returned to normal.

"At the current time, almost all European airspace is available," with a few exceptions in northern Scotland and western Sweden, Eurocontrol said in a statement.

"Today Eurocontrol expects that traffic will be at normal levels of between 28,000 and 29,000 flights."

Activity at the main airport in Paris was "back to normal" while it was also business as usual at German airports, with only a handful of cancellations reported at Frankfurt airport, the country's largest.

French authorities ordered around 20 extra flights laid on to bring home stranded citizens.

All Norwegian airspace was again open, allowing airports in the second city of Bergen and its oil capital Stavanger to get back to business.

Helicopter flights to Norwegian offshore oil platforms also resumed.

Helsinki international airport, as well as the airport in Sweden's second city Gothenburg were reopened, although the airport in Sweden's third largest city Malmoe, in the far south, closed as the ash cloud shifted.

The Danish air traffic authority Naviair also warned it could reintroduce flying restrictions if the concentration of volcanic ash in Danish skies increased.

Hundreds of thousands of travellers were left stranded across the globe by the shutdown which began last Thursday, having to shell out for hotels, food and alternative travel arrangements.

The chief executive of Ireland's low-cost carrier Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, initially said he would only refund the cost of tickets but the airline later agreed to pay for food and accommodation expenses incurred by travellers after an outcry and in line with EU regulations.

In a statement, O'Leary said Ryanair would continue its efforts to change "absurd" EU legislation so reimbursements were "limited to the ticket price paid in the same way they are for train, coach and ferry operators".

Hundreds of stranded British travellers converged on the port of Santander in northern Spain from where the British warship HMS Albion brought them home to Portsmouth in southern England, where they told of their often bitter experiences.

"We took out top-level insurance thinking that whatever happened, we'd be covered," holidaymaker Andrew Widgery told reporters after disembarking in Portsmouth with his wife and four children.

"But in fact, in this situation when I telephoned our insurance company, they said 'No, I'm sorry, it's act of God, natural disaster,' so we felt very isolated and very on our own."

Airlines, many already in difficulties during the downturn, want governments to pick up part of the bill after haemorrhaging money during the crisis.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) put the overall cost to the airline industry at 1.7 billion dollars (1.3 billion euros)

"For an industry that lost 9.4 billion dollars last year and was forecast to lose a further 2.8 billion dollars in 2010, this crisis is devastating," said IATA chief Giovanni Bisignani in Berlin.

Swedish authorities said they had extended the payment deadline of the country's airlines and airports to help offset losses the sector suffered.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrick Reinfeldt said that did not mean the Swedish government would be offering financial support to the airline industry.

"I don't want to conjure up a system when good days end up in their own pocket and on bad days they count on taxpayers," he told Swedish public radio.

World Bank president Robert Zoellick said the air travel disruptions could cost African countries 65 million dollars in lost trade.

The activity of Iceland's Eyjafjoell volcano increased slightly Thursday but the height of the ash column remained stable, an Icelandic expert and authorities said.

"The tendency is that the activity is slightly increasing," Steinunn Jakobsdottir, a geologist at the University of Iceland, told AFP, although generating less ash as "the glacier has melted around the crater".

The volcano plume spewing from the volcano did not reach higher than 3,000 metres (10,000 feet), she said.

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