On 28 April, 2010 - Thai Airways International Public Company Limited today announces a summary of supplementary flights and number of stranded passengers due to the European airport closures from the Icelandic volcano eruptions.
European officials are expressing optimism that more flights could be in the air over the continent Monday, after volcanic ash from Iceland forced five consecutive days of widespread cancellations.
EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said it's possible that almost 50 per cent of flights in Europe could operate on Monday.
The current situation is "not sustainable," Kallas told reporters at a briefing held Sunday in Brussels by the European air traffic authority, Eurocontrol.
More than three quarters of flights in European airspace have been grounded over fears the cloud of ash could stall aircraft engines, and the disruption has left millions of passsengers stranded in northern and central Europe and overseas.
Diego Lopez Garrido, Spain's secretary of state for European Union affairs, said EU transport ministers will meet on Monday to "take into account technical advice" including results of newly conducted test flights.
Dutch airline KLM said it safely flew aircraft without passengers through a window in the cloud of volcanic ash over Europe Sunday, and pressed for an end to the total ban on commercial air traffic.
Other airlines including Lufthansa and Air France said they, too, were conducting test flights. Authorities, however, extended airspace restrictions across Europe and said there was no end in sight to the ash plume.
KLM said the planes, of various types in its fleet, flew at normal altitude above 10,000 feet but did not encounter the thick cloud that had hovered over the continent since Wednesday, apparently indicating that the Icelandic dust had thinned or dispersed.
A KLM spokeswoman said four aircraft completed a short flight from Duesseldorf in western Germany without incident and four more planes were due to return to their home base at Schiphol Airport.
The airline received permission from Dutch and European aviation authorities before sending the planes aloft. Engineers immediately took the aircraft for inspection as they landed.
From CBC News
The two additional flights will be on Tuesday and Friday in addition to existing flights operating on Monday and Thursday.
Malaysia Airlines area manager for South and Central Africa, Yusnodjarwadi Said, said the airline was delighted to be able to offer more capacity to the Malaysian capital from Johannesburg.
The new flights will depart Johannesburg at 1.40pm, arriving in Kuala Lumpur at 6.10am (local time) the next day.
Flights from Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday will leave at 1.20am and arrive in Johannesburg the same day at 6am.
The two new weekly direct service between the two cities will use a Boeing 777-200 aircraft with 245 economy and 35 business class seats, providing a total weekly capacity of 560 seats in each direction.
Yusnodjarwadi expressed hope that the four weekly schedules would encourage increased corporate travel to Kuala Lumpur, describing it as a dynamic business capital of Southeast Asia.
Malaysia Airlines will be also launching special low fares mainly to Malaysia, Asean, China and Australia destinations for the flights.
