The first flights have left Australia bound for Europe after a five-day airspace shutdown due to the risks posed by a massive ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Iceland.
The first flights have left Australia bound for Europe after a five-day airspace shutdown due to the risks posed by a massive ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Iceland.
Qantas welcomed the gradual reopening of aircraft hubs across Europe, saying the grounding of its flights in Sydney, Melbourne and Asian hubs had cost it up to $10 million so far.
Chief executive Alan Joyce, whose airline won't begin to move passengers from Australia until Thursday, said it would take some weeks to clear a massive backlog of travellers stranded by the event.
"Our initial estimate is that this is costing between $1.5 and $2 million a day over the last five days," he said.
"The large bulk of this cost we have incurred in looking after our passengers, which amounts to $700,000 a day."
Mr Joyce said the Australian flag carrier would not lift fares as a result of the disruption, following news that British Airways was advertising economy tickets to Sydney from London for up to $12,000.
Meanwhile, Australians trying to get to Gallipoli for Anzac Day are likely to get there in time, Singapore Airlines says.
"Gallipoli is looking good," spokeswoman Susan Bredow said.
A Virgin Atlantic flight was the first to leave Sydney Airport for London Heathrow at 2.19pm (AEST) on Wednesday afternoon, with the maximum capacity of 308 passengers on board, Nick Larkworthy of Virgin Atlantic said.
About 30 of the 70 Virgin passengers stranded in Sydney were on board VS201, with priority given to people with special needs and unaccompanied minors.
The flight is bound for London via Hong Kong, where it is expected to pick up about 20 passengers displaced there.
Singapore Airlines flight SQ222 left Sydney Airport at 3.15pm (AEST) for Singapore, before heading on to London.
A second Singapore Airlines flight SQ234 was due to leave Sydney at 5.50pm (AEST) on Wednesday for Singapore, where passengers would connect to flights to Copenhagen, Zurich and Rome.
While Qantas won't fly from Australia until Thursday, it was on Wednesday scheduling flights bound for Frankfurt and London to depart from Bangkok and Singapore in the first steps to clearing a backlog of 15,000 stranded passengers.
Dense volcanic ash from the eruption in Iceland last week forced airports to close across the UK and Europe, leaving thousands of passengers on the ground.
London's Heathrow hub reopened just before 10pm local time on Tuesday (0700 Wednesday AEST), after the UK Civil Aviation Authority announced a gradual lifting of airspace restrictions.
Mr Joyce said Qantas was giving priority to customers already booked on the first flights to leave Australia on Thursday, but displaced passengers would be accommodated as spare seats became available.
Qantas is also in talks with London and Frankfurt airports to put on extra flights in the coming days to help get displaced passengers home.
"What we will be doing is putting as many of those passengers on the empty seats on our services going forward and we will be putting those passengers onto extra services," Mr Joyce told reporters in Sydney.
Singapore Airlines said about 3000 of its passengers had been stranded in Australia.
Emirates, which has lost about $US50 million ($A53.7 million) during the airport shutdowns, also restarted flights from Australia to its European hubs.
Displaced passengers are still being urged by all airlines not to travel to the airport unless they have been advised to do so.
