Following a week of air blockades stemming from the Iceland volcano, airports will now have to deal with lengthy backlogs while air carriers face anger and recriminations from millions of passengers over compensation claims.

But some companies, like Ryanair – and they are not alone, refused to countenance compensating travellers for anything over and above the cost of the cancelled flight.

Six days after the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull, the chain reaction triggered the first airspace closures, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said airlines had lost 1.7 billion euro, in what has been described as the biggest transport disaster since World War II.

Just about every airline is being hit hard, and, on April 22, budget airline Ryanair drew anger from politicians and passengers, by refusing to pay the hotel and food bills of passengers stranded by the volcanic ash cloud, thus not abiding by EU consumer rules which state that "airlines must provide food and drinks and hotel accommodation if appropriate when passengers are stranded".

The budget carrier, however, would have none of that. According to UK media, the company's chief executive, Michael O'Leary, told passengers his airline is not responsible for hotel and subsistence expenses incurred while they were stuck abroad.

"There's no legislation designed that says any budget airline getting a fare of 30 euro should be reimbursing passengers many thousands of euro for hotel accommodation. It's absurd," he told the UK Guardian.

"Ryanair would reimburse travellers the original price of their air fare and no more," he added.

Meanwhile, air carriers in their own right are demanding compensation from governments over the disruption. Feeling is particularly strong in the UK where British Airways repeatedly insisted during the crisis that the authorities were being too strict in forbidding air travel.

In the aftermath, and when the airspace over the British Isles was finally open, British authorities did indeed admit that "they might have been a little too strict".

Plans to return to a normal service suffered a setback on April 22 when, according to the BBC World Service, certain airports in Sweden and Norway were reportedly closed once more. According to latest media reports, Sweden's Gothenburg's Landvetter and Malmo's Sturup airports were shut in the aftermath of the latest drift of the ash cloud, but it is likely they may open later in the day.

Meanwhile, Sofia Airport's official website says that all flights are operating normally for the moment. Planes to and from London, Moscow, Brussels, Munich, Milan, Vienna, Kazan, and Venice are being serviced normally.

There are currently no reports of flights being cancelled to or from Bulgaria.