Millions of stranded travellers face further air chaos as the volcanic ash from Iceland that has closed most of Europe's airspace continues to spread.
An estimated three-quarters of flights were cancelled on Saturday. About 20 countries closed their airspace - some have extended flight bans into Monday.
Disruption is now said to be greater than that after 9/11 and the volcanic activity shows no sign of abating.
Two air lines have carried out test flights to see if it is safe to fly.
The Netherlands' KLM said one of its planes, a Boeing 737, had reached its maximum operating altitude of about 13km in the skies over the Netherlands, and there had been no problems during the flight.
The aircraft and its engines were being inspected for possible damage. After the results of that technical inspection the airline hopes to get permission from the aviation authorities to start up operations again.
Germany's Lufthansa said it had flown several planes to Frankfurt from Munich.
"All airplanes have been inspected on arrival in Frankfurt but there was no damage to the cockpit windows or fuselage and no impact on the engines," a spokesman said.
Britain has extended a ban on most flights in its airspace until at least 1800 GMT Sunday, air authorities have said.
A spokesman for the international airline industry said: "We don't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet."
-News courtesy of BBC-
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