Thousands of airline travelers began breathing a sigh of relief on Wednesday as European airports and airspace across the European continent reopened.

For six days travelers to and from Europe experienced significant inconvenience, and airlines, huge financial losses, as ash-filled clouds emitting from an Icelandic volcano made flying dangerous forcing flights to remain grounded.

Airspace for flights in and out of the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Belgium, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland were reopened on Wednesday.

Although flights have been resumed it will take days to clear the backlog of thousands of passengers whose flights were cancelled. Reports are that some passengers who were cancelled from Thursday, April 16 may not get another flight for days, depending on their destination.

Several flights from the Caribbean into European countries like the United Kingdom and Germany were also cancelled, leaving passengers, including tourists, stranded.

One woman who was vacationing in Kingston, Jamaica, requested relatives in Birmingham, England to urgently wire her funds, as her flight from Kingston was cancelled and she had no money to fund her extended stay until she was rebooked. Reports from Jamaica and Barbados indicated flights to Europe resumed on Wednesday.

Passengers at airports around the world, especially in Europe and the United States, grew desperate and angry as flight cancellations persisted for days. Some believed that the cancellations were not justified. However, airline authorities and air travel experts stressed that that there were no options for airlines flying through volcanic ash clouds. One expert speaking on international cable television said planes would “fall from the sky and crash” if they flew through volcanic ash which will corrode and shut down the engines, and can also damage the plane’s windshield.   

The crisis began after the volcano beneath the Eyjafjallajokull Iceland glacier erupted last Wednesday, sending clouds of ash into the atmosphere. The ash cloud quickly spread over Europe prompting the flight cancellations.

On Wednesday scientists in Iceland said the emission of ash from the volcano had decreased by 80 percent. This announcement led to the resumption of flights.

Instead of banning flying through volcanic ash, on Wednesday the British aviation regulator CAA revised its ruling to allow airlines to conduct their own risk assessments and require them to report any ash damage to the authorities.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has estimated that the cancellations because of the volcano crisis cost airlines some $1.7 billion in lost revenue.