Senior members of the Thomas Cook team and other senior industry figures met with secretary of state for transport Lord Adonis today to discuss further opening up of UK airspace.
The meeting is due to continue tonight and Cook chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa wants as rapid a return to normal flying as possible.
He added: “I urge the British Government to act in a co-ordinated way to achieve alignment with other European governments on airspace rules and a rapid return to normal flying throughout Europe.”
Cook has operated more than 80 flights across Europe today and hopes to increase that number significantly tomorrow.
The group’s German airline Condor resumed a significant part of its schedule today while three Thomas Cook Airlines rescue flights have departed from Glasgow to pick up passengers from Cancun, Heraklion and Sharm el-Sheikh and one from Newcastle to pick up holidaymakers in Lanzarote.
Providing airspace remains open, these flights will all return tonight along with 10 other Thomas Cook Airlines flights from short and mid-haul destinations, repatriating about 2,500 passengers.
Fontenla-Novoa added: “As the UK airspace restrictions have now been lifted for a short time over Glasgow and Newcastle Airports, our teams overseas and in the UK are all hands on deck to get as many people back to the UK as possible during this small window.
“Elsewhere, we have been working around the clock with our network of global partners to find alternative means of getting our customers home, and keep customers in the UK informed of the latest developments.”
The operator has already brought approximately 2,500 of its 50,000 stranded holidaymakers home.
Other rescue efforts include transporting 1,000 customers on Celebrity Eclipse, a series of flights to Spain and Portugal for holidaymakers stranded in Mexico, Dominican Republic and Cuba, and coaches and ferrys continue to repatriate people who are stranded in Italy and Spain.