Airport, Estonia, Legislation, Tourism, Transport

Late Tuesday, Estonian Air flew to Egypt to collect the first of hundreds of tourists from the Baltic state who have been stranded here, writes LETA.

Kristjan Telve, head of the civil aviation authority's flight service, told AFP it was up to airlines to decide when to resume operations. The only international company that took off from Tallinn on Tuesday morning was Germany's Lufthansa, bound for Munich.

Estonia’s air space was partially or fully closed since the end of last week due to the volcanic ashes in the air.

A total of 1,500 Estonian tourists were stuck in Egypt and Turkey as of Tuesday.

Estonian Air’s Vice President in charge of commerce Rauno Parras stated that the decision to continue operating flights was made after the enterprise was convinced that they are completely safe.

Earlier Tuesday, Estonia's neighbour Latvia had lifted its air freeze, with its national carrier airBaltic gradually resuming flights. Air traffic across Europe has been crippled since last Thursday when a vast cloud of ash from a volcano in Iceland started spreading southwards and eastwards.

The third member of the Baltic trio, Lithuania, reopened its skies Sunday, but only a dozen planes took off and landed from its capital Vilnius on Tuesday.

"I think things should be back to normal by the end of the week," Lithuania's civil aviation chief Kestutis Auryla told AFP.