Birmingham Airport back in business

Birmingham Airport is back in business after the first planes in almost a week took off.

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The first departure was a Monarch flight due to leave at 6.20am for Faro in Portugal, which left at 7am, closely followed by the delayed 7.20 to Alicante.

Another Thomson flight left at 6.45am but had no passengers on board. It had been stuck at the airport since the beginning of the volcanic ash cloud crisis on Thursday following a diversion.

Many other flights were still hit by cancellations, with the situation changing throughout the day.

Two flights landed at Birmingham last night after UK airspace opened at 10pm.

A flight back from Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt landed at midnight and a flight from Cancun in Mexico landed at 3am. It is believed both were due to land at other UK airports, but were diverted to Birmingham.

The first arrival today was the 10.25am from Munich. A flight from Pathos was due in at 9.50am but was hit by delays. Meanwhile, other flights were arriving from Sharm El Sheikh, Dubai, Naples and Faro in Portugal.

Airport spokeswoman Justine Hunt said: "There is still massive disruption, most of the flights are cancelled.

"It is going to take a good few days to get everything back in order, so the aircraft and the crews can get back to where they want to be.

"We are not expecting any chaos at the airport, because so many of the flights are not going ahead.

"We are asking people to check with their airline before they come."

Passengers began landing at airports across the UK last night, with the first British Airways flight since the restrictions were eased touching down at Heathrow just before 10pm.

As airports across the UK began the struggle to return to normality a row was brewing over the handling of the crisis with British Airways boss Willie Walsh hoping "lessons can be learned," while Transport Secretary Lord Adonis denied the Government was forced to reopen UK skies following "pressure" from airlines.

It was expected that airlines would give priority to repatriating travellers stranded abroad, with travellers urged to contact their airlines for the latest information.

Companies including Ryanair and Thomson had already cancelled flights until Thursday before airspace was reopened.

Among the lucky passengers finally able to fly out of Birmingham today were Horace and Cynthia Hunt from Walsall. They were flying out to Malaga in Spain and were due to leave at 7am.

Horace, aged 68, a retired bus driver, said: "It has all been a bit of a pain. No-one knows anything.

"We got the bus up to the airport yesterday to find out what we could, but they didn't know if the planes were flying. We found out at 10.30pm last night that the flight was back on and got to the airport for 5am.

"We just threw everything into a bag and haven't been to sleep yet."

His wife Cynthia, aged 65, added: "We know that we are among the lucky ones. It has been a stressful week.

"We didn't think we would be able to go but we are very fortunate, we know that."

Martin and Dorothy Facer, from the Pheasey estate in Great Barr, were due to catch the same flight to travel to a remote Spanish village to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.

Martin, aged 61, said: "I am not telling Dorothy the name of the village until we get in the plane, as I booked it as a surprise for her.

"It is our 40th wedding anniversary on the 25th and on Friday it is also Dorothy's 59th birthday, so this holiday means a lot to us.

"I am just pleased it is happening."

Another Great Barr couple, Lawrence and Sheila Humphries were also due to fly out to Larnaca in Cyprus with Sheila's sister Patricia Bithell and her husband Terrance.

The flight was due to leave at 8am today, but was delayed until 1pm.

Sheila, aged 73, said: "We were supposed to fly out on Friday, but it was cancelled, so we rebooked to go today."

But the day was not so good for golfers Michael Deeming, aged 27 from Pelsall in Walsall and his work colleagues Dave Perks, aged 38, from Tamworth and Jamie Ham, aged 33, from Cheltenham, aged 33.

They should have been a group of 15 men flying out to Faro, but found out at the last minute and could not contact their friends.