ABTA, The Travel Association, welcomed the announcement of the initial lifting of the current air travel restrictions over UK air space. ABTA Chief Executive, Mark Tanzer, said: "This is very good news for passengers. It will enable the normalisation of travel arrangements to begin, but this will necessarily be a phased process, due to length and scale of the suspension. Priority will be to return overseas passengers to the UK as soon as possible. Passengers with future bookings in the near term may still face disruptions, as normal service is resumed, and so should continue to check with their travel organisers prior to departing."