There are signs of hope in the air for travellers stranded around the world -- but six days worth of mounting backlogs means many still won't be hitting the skies any time soon.

On Tuesday, Eurocontrol officials said 55 to 60 per cent of flights over Europe would likely go ahead as scheduled, a major improvement from the massive shutdown that has crippled air travel since the eruption of a volcano in Iceland last week.

"The situation today is much improved," Brian Flynn, Eurocontrol's deputy head of operations, said Tuesday.

"The outlook is that bit by bit, normal flights will be resumed in coming days."

At Vancouver's YVR airport, flights to and from Germany were back in service on Tuesday, but only a single flight to London departed as scheduled. Another seven were cancelled.

Airlines have been extremely reluctant to fly in the massive ash cloud created by continued eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano.

Volcanic ash poses a hazard for airplanes, as it can be sucked into jet engines where it can melt and then solidify. It can also cause visibility problems for pilots.

At present, the ash cloud is now spreading towards Greenland and the eastern coastline of Canada. But some of it was being pushed back towards Britain, courtesy of shifting winds, Icelandic scientists said.

Backlogged passengers still stranded

Six days after the volcano first erupted, hundreds of thousands of passengers have been found themselves backlogged and an estimated 95,000 flights have been cancelled.

In B.C., many have had their hopes raised and dashed on a daily basis by the promise of possible air travel. Okanagan residents Dave and Doris Goltman have been driving to and from Vancouver every day since Saturday in an attempt to board a plane to Europe.

The couple says they are "more than a little frustrated," and when they arrived at YVR on Tuesday, they learend that the news of a gradual resumption of European flights is no garauntee they will board.

"We don't know, we just don't know," Dave Goltman said. "It might go Wednesday, it might go Thursday."

With less than half the usual number of European flights moving in and out of YVR, and nearly a week's worth of passengers scrambling to board them, most people remain out of luck.

Experts say the problem now will be prioritizing who gets to fly first. But for many travelers, backlogs are a concern for another day – the fact even a limited number of planes are flying is good enough.

With files from The Associated Press and a report from CTV British Columbia's Stephen Smart