Nearly all Finnish airports temporarily reopened

HELSINKI, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Nearly all airport services in Finland are to be reopened by noon (0900 GMT) on Wednesday, said the Finnish Civil Aviation Administration.

Finland's airspace is open temporarily and all airports, except for Mariehamn in the Aland Islands, west of Finland, were already reopened on Wednesday morning, said the agency.

However, Helsinki Airport will be closed again at 3 p.m.(1200 GMT) Wednesday as it is forecast that the cloud of volcanic ash will reach southern Finland in the afternoon.

Airports in Tampere and Turku in southern Finland will also probably have to close.

Finnish flag carrier Finnair said Wednesday that it will fly about 1,500 passengers from Spain to Finland when Finnish airspace is temporarily open. It will fly some long-haul flights from New York or Bangkok if the airspace later remains open.

Late Tuesday, Finland announced a plan to open airspace at altitudes above 9,500 meters for international traffic overflights until 9 a.m. (0600 GMT) Thursday.