Europe's air travel chaos deepened today as a huge cloud of volcanic ash spread further across the continent, halting nearly three in four flights and stranding thousands of passengers worldwide.
European aviation agency Eurocontrol said no landings or takeoffs were possible for civilian aircraft in most of northern and central Europe because of the cloud from an Icelandic volcano which was still erupting.
It expected 6,000 flights in European airspace or 27.3 per cent of the normal level for a Saturday. Yesterday there were 10,400 flights, 35.9 per cent of the usual number for that day.
"Forecasts suggest that the cloud of volcanic ash will persist and that the impact will continue for at least the next 24 hours," the agency said in a statement.
The plume that floated through the upper atmosphere, where it could wreak havoc on jet engines and airframes, was costing airlines hundreds of millions of euros and has thrown travel plans into disarray around the world.
The volcanic eruption appeared to be easing up today but could continue for days or even months to come, officials said.
British Airways said today it had cancelled all its short-haul flights into and out of Britain tomorrow.
A spokeswoman for the airline said the cancellation covered all flights to and from European destinations as well as domestic services. A decision on long-haul flights would be made later.
Aviation authorities have closed British airspace until at least 1am on Sunday because of the danger posed by volcanic ash clouds.
Airports around Paris will remain closed at least until 6am on Monday, the French prime minister's office said today.
At least 26 French airports have closed with Bordeaux and Grenoble are set to close at 2pm.
German carrier Lufthansa said it had no planes in the air anywhere in the world. "There has never been anything like this," a spokesman said.
Dutch airline KLM has cancelled all its flights in and out of Schiphol Amsterdam Airport for today.
The Dutch low-cost airline Transavia has cancelled all its flights to and from the Netherlands and to and from Denmark until 6pm, Transavia said in a statement.
The closure of Dutch airspace is costing Schiphol Amsterdam Airport "a few million euros" per day, an airport spokeswoman said.
Disruption also spread to Asia, where dozens of Europe-bound flights were cancelled and hotels from Beijing to Singapore strained to accommodate thousands of stranded passengers.
In Singapore, a major transit point for Europe-bound air traffic, 22 flights were cancelled early today, Changi Airport spokesman Ivan Tan said.
The US military had to reroute many flights, including those evacuating the wounded from Afghanistan and Iraq, a Pentagon spokesman said.
European finance chiefs scrambled to find a way home from a meeting in the Spanish capital Madrid. The Intercontinental Hotel, where European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet and many other finance ministers and central bankers were staying, was quoting a price of €4,000 for a chauffeur-driven car to Paris.
German chancellor Angela Merkel, diverted to Portugal yesterday when trying to return to Germany from the United States, was due to fly to Rome on the latest stage of her odyssey.
The disruption is the worst since the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington in 2001, when US airspace was closed for three days and European airlines were forced to halt all transatlantic services.
Vulcanologists say the ash could cause problems to air traffic for up to six months if the eruption continues. The financial impact on airlines could be significant.
The volcano began erupting on Wednesday for the second time in a month from below the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, hurling a plume of ash 6 to 11km into the atmosphere. By today this had fallen to 5 to 8km.
"The eruption could go on like that for a long time," said Bergthora Thorbjarnardottir, a geophysicist at the Meteorological Office.
"Every volcano is different and we don't have much experience with this one, it's been 200 years since it erupted last."
Reuters