**Two cruise liners carrying thousands of Britons who were left stranded by the flight ban are due back in the UK.**Some 2,200 travellers are on board the new £500m Celebrity Eclipse, en route from Bilbao, Spain, to Southampton.
The Thomson cruise ship Island Escape is sailing back from Madeira with 1,400 passengers and will arrive in Cornwall.
Thousands more Britons are continuing their journeys home after UK flight restrictions as a result of a volcanic ash cloud from Iceland were lifted.
Ships role
Thomson said two of its cruise ships had been involved in a “significant repatriation programme” in response to six days of UK flight cancellations.
“This programme includes the use of various different modes of transport, including cruise ships, coaches and ferries,” a spokesman said.
"In particular, two Thomson cruise ships have been providing assistance and are helping bring customers home.
“Thomson Dream has been transferring customers from Majorca to mainland Spain and the Island Escape is currently sailing back to the UK from Madeira.”
Island Escape was due to dock in Falmouth, Cornwall, on Friday morning.
‘Incredible logistics’
Celebrations to mark the inauguration of the luxury Celebrity Eclipse had to be put on hold to pick up customers of tour operators Thomas Cook, TUI and Co-Op Travel Group.
Dan Hanrahan, chief executive of Celebrity Cruises, said: "Embarking just over 2,000 guests in Bilbao took a little longer than we anticipated, but we are still on track to get everyone into Southampton early on Friday evening.
“We are so grateful to our tour operator partners for working with us to get everyone to the ship on time. There have been some incredible logistics involved in the last 24 hours.”
The Celebrity Eclipse is expected to arrive between 1700 and 1900 BST.
‘No damage’
Meanwhile, the RAF is hoping to resume training on its Typhoon fighter jets based at Coningsby, Lincolnshire, which was suspended on Thursday after ash deposits were found in the engines of four aircraft.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “These are very high-performance jets so they are just being extra cautious.”
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the RAF’s “precautionary measure” would not impact on passenger flights.
As part of the reopening of UK airspace, airlines must inspect aircraft before and after flights and report any ash-related incidents to the CAA.
The CAA said there had been “only a very few reports from airlines and, of these, all related to visual sightings”.
A spokeswoman said: “There have been no reports of damage to aircraft.”
Night trains
Railway lines serving Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports from Paddington, Victoria and Liverpool Street stations in London operated through the night into Friday morning.
There were also extra services running into the early hours to the main ferry ports, including Dover, Kent.
Engineering work on the East and West Coast Main Lines between London and Scotland was cancelled to enable more direct services to run.
The eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland from 14 April sent vast amounts of ash into the atmosphere.
There were fears the ash could pose a risk to jet engines but flight restrictions were lifted on Tuesday night after regulators tested the impact on aircraft.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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