Airlines continue to wait for volcanic ash to lift

by Kendall Mark

Airline loses have reached around $1 billion as of Monday morning, causing the industry to demand compensation from the EU and criticizing governments for not testing the ash and the amounts of open air space, MSNBC said.

Over the weekend, the industry succesfully preformed test flights with out passengers on board, MSNBC said. This led some in the industry to wonder if volcanic ash was as detrimental to jet engines as originally thought.

The airways are supposed to fly only 8,000 to 9,000 of the 28,000 scheduled flights Monday due to air traffic restrictions, the Associated Press said.

Airspace in southern parts of Europe, such as Spain, France, and parts of Italy, is now open but upper airspace is difficult to access, the Associated Press said.