-- Around half of up to 28,000 flights scheduled in Europe for Tuesday will take place, the body coordinating air traffic control across the continent said.

-- The European Union's top transport official rejected growing criticism that the EU failed to adequately address the air traffic chaos, as airlines branded the flight ban a "European mess", and the economic fallout "greater than September 11".

-- A fresh cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland's erupting Eyjafjoell volcano will pass over Britain and Denmark but spare France, the European Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) said.

Experts said the plume of ash had clearly diminished. It is expected to change direction and head towards the Arctic when the weather changes towards the end of the week, the World Meteorological Organization said.

BELGIUM: Air traffic in Belgium partially resumed early Tuesday with landings only authorised after 0600 GMT.

BRITAIN: Britain's first flight since European governments eased airspace restrictions left Scotland early Tuesday.

The first flight took off from Glasgow airport for Stornoway, in the Outer Hebrides, at 0615 GMT, 15 minutes after Scottish airspace reopened.

Amid a new spurt of ash from Iceland's volcano however, British Airways announced it cancelled all its short-haul flights Tuesday.

DENMARK: All Danish airports will remain closed until at least 0000 GMT Wednesday, though overflights would still be permitted above 20,000 feet.

Denmark's civil aviation administration said it pushed back a low-cost airline's test flight due to a high concentration of ash coming from the erupting Icelandic volcano.

FRANCE: The two main airports in Paris will progressively open on Tuesday to allow around three-quarters of scheduled international flights to depart.

From 0600 GMT the airports of Roissy and Orly will ensure 75 percent of international flights. Air France said that its long distance flights from the two Paris airports would return to "normal service".

GERMANY: German authorities extended the closure of its airspace by six hours to 1800 GMT Tuesday, but some airlines operated flights with special permission.

Airline Lufthansa said it planned to carry more than 15,000 passengers on some 200 flights on Tuesday, which represents just over 11 percent of its normal daily schedule.

Meanwhile, German luxury automaker BMW said it had been partially halted in its production at several sites because of spare parts not arriving due to the turmoil in European air traffic.

The Munich-based firm said that three German factories were affected, and the stoppage would mean around 7,000 fewer vehicles would be made than normal.

HUNGARY: Hungary's national air navigation service decided Tuesday to reopen the country's airspace from 0730 GMT after ordering a partial closure earlier in the day.

IRELAND: Irish aviation authorities extended the ban on flights in its airspace until 1200 GMT Tuesday at the earliest.

ITALY: Airspace over northern Italy slowly re-opened on Tuesday as scheduled at 0600 GMT with the first flights leaving the main airports of Rome and Milan.

LATVIA: Latvia on Tuesday lifted its air-traffic freeze, while neighbouring Estonia eased its restrictions. Latvia's skies reopened from 0600 GMT.

NETHERLANDS: Dutch airspace partially reopened Tuesday morning.

NORWAY: Norway shut down airspace over the southwestern part of the country early Tuesday, after having reopened virtually all of its airspace Monday.

POLAND: The Polish national aviation authority on Tuesday decided to keep airspace closed above all the country's airports.

SLOVENIA: Slovenia closed its airspace under 6,300 metres (20,500 feet) on Tuesday.

SWITZERLAND: Swiss airspace re-opened as scheduled Tuesday at 0600 GMT and operations at the country's two main airports began slowly returning to normal.

-- OUTSIDE EUROPE --

AUSTRALIA: Australia's Qantas Airways extended its ban on flights to and from Europe for another 24 hours on Tuesday, as hopes of a quick resolution to the volcanic ash crisis dwindled.

CHINA: Thousands of factories in China's Guangdong province, the workshop of the world, have seen air shipments of watches, jewellery and high-end fashions delayed while stranded executives are kicking their heels in frustration.

HONG KONG: Sushi lovers are running out of prized Norwegian salmon and planeloads of exports from garments to mobile phones are piling up as Asian business counts the cost of Europe's air chaos.

JAPAN, Tokyo: Japanese carmaker Nissan said it was being forced to curtail some vehicle production owing to a shortage of parts from Ireland, with European air transport in turmoil owing to the volcanic eruption in Iceland.

SINGAPORE: Asia-Pacific airlines are losing an estimated 40 million dollars a day from the closure of European airspace due to a volcanic eruption, the head of an industry group said Tuesday.

UNITED STATES: Air France flight 023 to Paris is the first flight for Europe to take off for days from New York's John F. Kennedy airport.

burs-emb/gk

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