A small number of flights have taken off in northern Europe after five days of inactivity caused by the spread of volcanic ash from Iceland.
The Eurocontrol air traffic agency says it expects up to 60% of flights over Europe to go ahead on Tuesday.
Planes have been departing from Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt among others - though many flights are still grounded.
A new ash cloud spreading from Iceland has meant that most of UK airspace, including London, remains closed. Other closed airspaces are Norway, Denmark, west of Ireland and south of Sweden.
The UK's air traffic control authority, Nats, says it is unlikely that the main airports in London will reopen on Tuesday.
Swiss and northern Italian airspace has reopened. The Swiss authorities said test flights had shown a considerable reduction in the amount of ash in the atmosphere and posed no threat to passenger safety.
Flights have resumed out of Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Orly airport, which are operating at about 30% capacity.
The skies over Germany are to remain closed until 1800 GMT, with some exceptions.
The German carrier, Lufthansa, says it is planning about 200 flights on Tuesday, taking advantage of special permission to fly visually rather than relying on instruments and keeping in constant touch with air traffic controllers.
In Spain, where all airports were open this morning, the government has offered to let Britain and other European countries use its airports as stopovers to get passengers moving again.
Sources: BBC, Met Office and Eurocontrol
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