Leftover ash from the Labour government?

 A conspiracy, to dull the shine on the first few days of our gleaming new regime!

My theory?  Its Gordon Brown up in Scotland wafting it about

what bothers me about this ash cloud is the likes of Willie Walsh pushing for airspace to be open, its peoples lives at risk NOT corporate profits

 agree, Lockey. When he and his sort bang on about losing squillions for every day the stoppage last, all it makes me think is, that's what you normally make every day?

On the other hand we have to factor in the huge increase in 'Nanny State Thinking' which has crept in.  When aircraft are successfully taking off and flying from European destinations and flying through the same airspace it is total nonsense to ground all our airlines.

Willie Walsh wants to defeat the unions and God's Will  He's quite a guy

I'd rather not take the chance TBH.

Britain is closer to Iceland and so is more affected. Complaining that planes are still taking off from most of Europe is like saying they're going in topless in St Tropez right now, so why are we all wearing vests?

**Takes Locke to one side and tells her the awful truth**

 *removes windcheater*

They are able to plot the location of the cloud now fairly accurately.  What is in dispute is the density in which it is safe to fly.  I know for a fact that planes from other destinations have been flying through airspace which has been deemed unsafe for us.  Don't forget that the first wave of ash cloud dispute was ended by a convoy of planes flying through it despite dire warnings from the government.

The most frustrating aspect is constantly being told on the news that ours is S/D. If anything there is more traffic.

Wasn't that because up until that point the aviation authorities hadn't provided the government with any data relating to what was safe to fly through, so they adopted a 'zero-tolerance' stance to it?

It was the Civil Aviation Authority, taking advice from the Met Office, not the government.

Deman I think Saz Bomb has got it in one. The sooner we stop nanny state thinking and start letting commonsense creep back in the better.

I wouldn't want to go in a plane through a volcanic ash cloud as a test to see if it's safe. No amount of money would entice me

This is the updated version of this story (21.59 GMT)!

So the airlines and aircraft engine manufacturers seem to be managing to move the goalposts over this issue. They've clearly managed to convince the new Transport Minister anyway... Now who would you prefer to trust to keep the skies safe? Hmmmmm...  

In view of the amount of time the airlines currently spend on checking the state of aircraft maintenance and safety in between flight turnarounds... this does not look very promising.

If you jet off on holiday from Heathrow in the coming months... think of me... living under the take-off flightpath... And happy holidays!