AUGUSTA, Ga.
(AP) The U.S. Air Force is ending a 30-day restriction on the use of certain flights from the U.K. and Ireland, after the Department of Defense said Friday that some commercial flights could resume in the coming days.
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said Friday the restriction is temporary, but the government is continuing to work with carriers to provide the Air Force with more flexibility in meeting their requirements.
Air traffic controllers are advising pilots and flight crews that commercial air service between the U-K and Ireland will resume from Aug. 20 through Aug. 25, said Lt.
Gen. John Kelly, commander of U.s.
Northern Command.
That will extend to the U .
K. next week.
The Air Force said the restriction will be lifted at 1 p.m.
(4 p.t.) each day Aug. 27 and 28.
The military said flights will resume to U.k. and U.I. airports by Monday, Aug. 31.
The United States has been conducting air exercises with British and Irish air forces for more than a year, but it hasn’t been as long since the restrictions were imposed, Kelly said.
The restrictions have been used to keep the air traffic at a standstill in the U ‘s busiest airspace, but U.N. experts said Friday they didn’t appear to have been enough to slow the air travel between the countries.
They said they are still hopeful the restrictions can be lifted soon.
“We believe the air forces of the two countries are ready to resume normal operations as they were under the restrictions imposed last summer,” said Peter Boulton, deputy director of the UfC’s London-based Air Transport Association.
Air Traffic Control is advising pilots to use the alternate routes that have been chosen, as well as to plan alternate flight paths that take them to destinations that are more than an hour’s drive from London.
U.B.T.S.-led exercises in northern England will begin on Aug. 19 and continue until Aug. 26.