Reading Comprehension: Europe Flight Ban

European airlines question flight bans
Monday, April 19, 2010
Some of Europe's airlines and airports have called into question whether the mass restrictions imposed on the continent's airspace, due to volcanic ash in the area, are necessary.
Millions of travelers have been stranded by the cancellations; however, some airlines have made test flights to see if there were any immediate effects on jets after flying through ash. Authorities fear that the ash can cause vital aircraft parts, such as the engines, to fail in-flight.
Three large airlines — KLM, Air France, and Lufthansa — have already made test flights. Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, the head of the Association of European Airlines (AEA), commented: "Verification flights undertaken by several of our airlines have revealed no irregularities at all; this confirms our requirement that other options should be deployed to determine genuine risk."
KLM, meanwhile, said that it will allow three freight planes to make flights to Asia, and had transferred seven passenger planes from Duesseldorf, Germany to Amsterdam, without any travelers.

Source: Wikinews
Licensed under the CC-By 2.5

Questions:
Are all airlines questioning the flight ban?
What effect has the ban had on passengers?
What do the airlines want to change?
What is the fear of authorities?
Why do airlines think they should be allowed to fly?

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