The Netherlands is gradually reopening its airspace, which had been closed since Thursday due to the volcanic ash from Iceland.
Three passenger flights of the Royal Dutch Airlines KLM took off from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport Monday evening and more flights will be allowed, the airport said in a statement.
It said initially, flights will only be operated during daytime and their capacity will be limited. It will take days before the air traffic is fully resumed.
Intercontinental flights won't be allowed to land in Amsterdam till
Tuesday morning, and the KLM still advises travelers to check information before going to the airport.
"I hope that we will soon be able to allow passengers to fly again, and based on the experiences we have had with test flights, that should be possible," Dutch Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings said.
The Netherlands had closed its airspace along with other European countries since last Thursday due to clouds of volcanic ash from Iceland blowing over Europe. But the KLM carried out 10 test flights over the weekend.
KLM CEO Peter Hartman said the European airspace is safe, "with the exception of a corridor extending from Iceland to Russia."
