Millions of people faced worsening travel chaos yesterday as a volcanic ash cloud from Iceland moved further south and east, forcing European countries to extend flight bans into next week.
France decided to shut the three airports in the Paris area and others in the north of the country until 7 a.m. tomorrow due to the ash cloud that has caused the biggest airspace shutdown since World War II.
Italy also said it would not allow any flights until 7 a.m. tomorrow, Ireland shut its airspace until 1 p.m. today and Britain and Germany lengthened bans on most flights in their airspace until 7 a.m. today.
Additionally, British Airways cancelled all its flights due to have arrived in and depart London today.
Winds blowing the massive cloud eastward from Iceland to Russia will continue in the same direction for at least two days and could go on until the middle of this week, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said yesterday.
"The ash will continue to be directed towards Britain and Scandinavia," Teitur Arason, a meteorologist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, told AFP.
"That's the general situation for the coming days... more or less for the next two days or maybe the next four or five days," he said.
The volcanic ash cloud is heading towards Greece as it moves further south as well as east into Russia, Britain's meteorological group the Met Office said yesterday.
Other European nations also moved to extend their flight bans, including Austria to 1 a.m. today and Belgium to 1 p.m.
Poland said it was shutting its airspace "until further notice".
The closure of Poland's airspace has thrown into doubt the attendance of world leaders including US President Barack Obama, due in the southern city of Krakow today for the funeral of president Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria.
The Kaczynski couple were among 96 people, most of them Polish dignitaries, killed in a plane crash in Russia on April 10 on their way to a World War II memorial service.
Some 17,000 flights in European airspace on Saturday have been cancelled due to the cloud of volcanic ash, said Eurocontrol, which coordinates air traffic control in 38 nations.
Whereas a normal Saturday would see 22,000 flights in Europe, Eurocontrol said only about 5,000 were able to operate - and out of a routine 300-odd incoming transatlantic flights, a mere 73 had so far arrived.
With flights grounded all over Europe, stranded holidaymakers and business travellers sought any means possible to get home - or contented themselves with just staying put.
"EasyJet has assured us that we will be reimbursed for accommodation until Wednesday" when the next flight is due out, said British holidaymaker Karen Apple at Faro airport in Portugal's Algarve region, the Correio da Manha newspaper reported.
"I don't know if I should file a complaint against the volcano," said a Spanish man at Madrid's Barajas airport who was trying to get a refund for his ticket to Frankfurt.
Iceland's Eyjafjoell volcano erupted last Wednesday, sending ash drifting towards Europe at an altitude of about eight to 10 kilometres. Europe's three biggest airports - Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, and Frankfurt - were closed yesterday, leaving passengers stranded across the world as a global flight backlog built up.
An official for the Eurostar Channel tunnel rail service reported thousands more passengers than normal were set to travel on its trains between London and the continent yesterday.
Justifying the widespread airport closures aviation officials have explained that airplane engines could become clogged up and stop working if they tried to fly through the ash.
In the past 20 years, there have been 80 recorded encounters between aircraft and volcanic clouds, causing the near-loss of two Boeing 747s with almost 500 people on board and damage to 20 other planes, experts said.
The International Air Transport Association meanwhile has warned of the economic fallout from the volcano eruption in southeast Iceland.
According to their figures it was costing airlines more than $200 million (€230 million) a day.