Three Royal Navy ships will be deployed to ferry home British nationals stranded in Europe, Gordon Brown said, amid mounting criticism of the government’s handling of the Iceland volcano ash cloud crisis.
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As forecasters warned the cloud from the Iceland volcano could prevent flights over Britain all week, government ministers denied they had been slow to act as calls intensified for the no fly ban to be lifted.
After a meeting of Cobra, the Government's emergency planning committee in Whitehall, the Prime Minister announced that HMS Ark Royal and HMS Ocean were being made available to help thousands of Britons stranded, most notably in France.
The Spanish government on Monday said its airports would be used to get 70,000 stranded Britons home around the ash cloud that has paralysed European air traffic.
In an attempt to address criticism that the Government has been slow to respond to the crisis, the Prime Minister also said the British government was examining the financial impact on airlines and associated companies of the closure of UK airspace.
The chaos caused by the eruption of an Icelandic volcano, now entering its fifth day, has left more than one million British travellers stranded abroad.
The unprecedented disruption to airline passengers has already cost the economy £500 million and is costing airlines worldwide £130 million a day.
The cloud of ash is expected to reach the eastern Canadian coast on Monday night and may not dissipate until Saturday.
Air traffic controllers have extended a ban on flights over Britain until 1am Tuesday at the earliest.
EU ministers were due to hold emergency talks later on Monday to try to find a European-wide solution to the crisis.
Mr Brown defended the continuing flight ban saying the safety of air passengers was "paramount" when dealing with crisis caused by the volcanic ash cloud.
“This is one the most serious transport disruptions that we have faced,” Mr Brown told reporters in London after the Cobra meeting.
“If thousands of people need to get home from America and from Asia, and the only way through is by plane to get to Spain and then use other forms of travel to get to Britain, then we will make it possible.
“Our first priority is to avoid the inconvenience being caused to thousands of people.”
He added that “the safety of air passengers is of paramount importance”.
Jose Blanco, the Spanish Transport Minister, was already working with the British government "to facilitate the 70,000 people from Britain who are in North America getting home through Spain".
"We are going to give as many flight authorisations as Spain is capable of handling," he told Spanish national radio.
Their comments came amid a torrent of criticisms from airlines, industry and travel groups and opposition parties about the comprehensive restrictions on flights across Europe resulting from volcanic ash floating over from Iceland.
Authorities were also criticised for imposing rules which were based on theory rather than practical evidence.
Giovanni Bisignani, director-general, the International Air Transport Association, the airlines' trade body was scathing about the European response to the ash cloud.
"This is a European embarrassment and it's a European mess,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
"This decision (to close airspace) has to be based on facts and supported by risk assessment. We need to replace this blanket approach with a practical approach."
Air traffic controllers have extended a ban on flights over Britain until 1am Tuesday at the earliest.
"Conditions around the movement of the layers of the volcanic ash cloud over the UK remain dynamic," said a spokesman for Nats, the air traffic control company.
"We are working closely with Government, airports and airlines, and airframe and aero engine manufacturers to get a better understanding of the effects of the ash cloud and to seek solutions."
Mr Brown defended the government, saying it was "a European-wide problem" that would need a European-wide solution.
Money, he said, should come from the European Solidarity Fund that could hopefully be used to help travellers and airlines.
“We are conscious that we will have to look at the financial position, not just of airlines, but associated companies,” Mr Brown told reporters in London.
“We’re looking at what we can do with this route through Madrid that may be something we can offer to airlines.”
While British airports remained closed on Monday several European airports opened including in Spain, Austria, Finland, Bosnia and Italy.
Dutch airports are due to reopen airspace on Monday morning while Germany will reopen this afternoon after opening 6 airports.
Airlines including Lufthansa, Air France and KLM joined BA in suggesting it may be safe for European governments to end the unprecedented closure of the region’s airspace.
European air control authorities have admitted that they have interpreted international guidelines “more rigorously” than US.
Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, said the Government was following international safety standards in deciding whether flights could go ahead and was working with the Met Office in an attempt to identify "safe routes" for flights.
On Sunday Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive, joined four crew in a three-hour test flight from London, over the Atlantic, to Cardiff.
The flight, which took the aircraft out over the Atlantic Ocean, lasted two hours and 46 minutes with flying conditions described as “perfect”.
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