The Authority said passenger traffic may partially resume, depending on decisions by air traffic centre Hungarocontrol.

The continuation of the ban depends on the activity of the volcano, weather conditions and the decisions by air transport authorities in other countries, said Hungarocontrol spokesman Imre Fehér.

The Authority imposed a 24-hour closure of Hungary’s airspace on Friday but extended it on Saturday and again yesterday.

Only 20% of aircraft flying in Hungarian airspace land in Hungary, as 80% of the flights are transit traffic.

Budapest Airport spokesman Károly Szilágyi said the airport is open 24 hours and air traffic may resume as soon as the authorities give the go-ahead.

Small aircraft and helicopters were permit-ted to fly at altitudes below 3,000 metres from 8 a.m. Sunday morning.

Icelandic experts say the activity of the volcano is not letting up, which means that further traffic chaos is in the offing.

MÁV-Start railways provided extra car-riages on trains bound for Zurich, Munich, Berlin and Bucharest on Sunday night to ac-commodate travellers stranded by the closure of the airport. The rail company said that it will steadily monitor rail traffic and the sale of in-ternational tickets and provide more interna-tional trains, if necessary.

The concentration of pollution particles rose fivefold in Budapest in a matter of hours when ash from the volcano reached the city, while the increase was eight to tenfold in Nyíregyháza, the environmentalist group Levegő Munkacsoport said Sunday."

Source: Hungary Around the Clock.

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