Correspondents report on journey home

BBC correspondents report on how travel is beginning to return to normal, allowing those stranded by the volcanic eruption in Iceland to continue their much-delayed journeys.

It was a sound not heard for nearly a week at Heathrow as, shortly after 0900 this morning, two British Airways flights thundered down the runway and took to the clear blue skies.

They were bound for Tel Aviv and New York. BA hopes to operate all its outbound long-haul flights on Wednesday.

Passengers have once again begun to arrive at Heathrow Airport

But the airport is still quiet compared to a normal day when aircraft queue up for their take-off slots.

Passengers arriving for flights to European destinations found departure boards displaying long lists of cancellations.

For many travellers it's still going to be a while before they reach their final destinations.

Tom Geilow, a businessman from the Chicago, has been stranded in Europe since last Wednesday. But he remained stoical.

"I think the UK authorities did the right thing in closing the airspace," he told me. "Better to be safe than sorry."

Europe's busiest airport is back up and running, but it will be days before Heathrow returns to normal.

A school girl netball team who'd been competing in Malta, a university choir from County Cork who'd taken part in a music festival in Verona, and thousands of other travellers descended on Calais at the end of a long, sleep-deprived odyssey around Europe. For many though, relief at getting to the northern French port was tinged with anger about exorbitant car hire fees, expensive hotel rooms, and a lack of help from tour companies and airlines.

Long queues inside and outside the terminal building allow time to swap experiences - mostly travel horror stories - with strangers. Children excitedly tot up the number of countries they have travelled through since flying into Europe from holiday destinations like South Africa, Florida, and New Delhi. Their parents - wearily assessing how long they'll have to wait to get to the ticket counter - prepare strategies for trying to claw back some of the expenses. Many ask themselves one question. Was it really worth striking out for home under their own steam and personal expense now that the airspace has been opened up?

Under a dramatic and futuristic curved ceiling, Terminal 4 of Madrid Barajas Airport is probably the closest thing western Europe gets these days to a fully functioning airport.

Queues snake out from check in desks, fast food outlets throb with customers, taxis come and go beyond the sliding doors.

But there is a sense of lack; a lack of big-airport-buzz; a lack of hustle and bustle.

Many coaches have been laid on for passengers stranded in Madrid

On Tuesday, when most of Europe's airports lay quiet, Barajas was destined to become a hub for returning long-haul travellers, a place where Britons, Poles, Scandinavians and Germans could alight on European soil and then, somehow, make their way home.

The British government said it had chartered 150 buses to ferry long-haul passengers north to French ports.

So 55 weary but relieved-looking British tourists climbed aboard one of the buses at lunchtime.

But the expected flood of stranded tourists is so far only a trickle. The consular staff at the British Embassy desk, resplendent in high-visibility vests emblazoned with the Union flag, are happily underemployed.

Stranded Britons there are aplenty in Spain, coaches, cars and trains carrying them are streaming north. But so far at least, perhaps not surprisingly after the travails of the past few days, the airport is not their destination of choice.

Though the airport is fully open again, there was little activity at the start of the day. A few departures, but the information boards were mostly showing cancellations. It is getting busier - around half the check-in desks are now open.

People are starting to check in for flights at Glasgow Airport

Among the early departures a group of golfers checking in their clubs and heading for Spain. The first long-distance arrival came from Florida. Many of the passengers were families with young children.

They had been due back last week, and for the children that has meant a longer holiday and a few days off school. Some of the parents, though, spoke of the frustration of having to shuttle between their hotel and the airport in Orlando over several days as they waited for information.

Some chose to fly to Glasgow because it was the first available flight to the UK - they now face another long journey home.

It looks, sounds and smells like an airport once again. Jets scream overhead and the whiff of aviation fuel drifts across the car park.

The cabbies are back here en masse with a look of hunger in their eyes, having been starved of passengers for days.

Passengers on a flight from Cuba were among the first into Manchester

Nobody knows exactly how many passengers will use the airport today. Updates quickly become outdated. Managers think it's likely to be in the region of 14,000, which is about a third of normal capacity.

Managers are braced for more. All staff are back on shift and many of those who usually work behind the scenes in finance and administration have been drafted in to meet passengers. These include those trained to deal with emergencies when passengers might be upset or traumatised.

But one couple I spoke to were far from unhappy. Chris and Dawn Walton from Newcastle had just stepped off the flight from Cuba where they got married.

"We were well-looked after - it was a five star all-inclusive resort," said Mr Walton.

"But we were starting to get worried," chipped in his wife. "We've got a big party for all our friends and family booked for Saturday. We were beginning to think it'd have to go ahead without the bride and groom."

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