LONDON - European airports slowly started to return to life on Tuesday after five days cut off from the world due to a huge ash cloud, but some airspace stayed closed after reports a new plume from Iceland may be on its way. Italy, Switzerland and France reopened their airports early on Tuesday though many flights remained cancelled, and in Italy only a handful took off in the morning, mainly domestic flights. Hungary, Slovenia and Moldova also resumed flights.

But Britain's National Air Traffic Service, which controls UK airspace, said much of Britain's airspace would remain closed to flights below 20,000 feet until 1800 GMT after air traffic controllers warned a new ash cloud was headed for major air routes.

The European Union, which announced on Monday that its members had reached a deal to reduce the size of the no-fly zone from 0600 GMT on Tuesday, acknowledged that progress was slow.