The volcanic ash that has turned much of European airspace into a no-fly zone may have hurt the prices of airline stocks, paralysed air cargo delivery and disrupted travel... but some forms of transport have also benefitted from the black cloud.

Virtu Ferries, for example, experienced a surge of approximately 20 per cent in bookings over the weekend, while Sullivan Maritime is advertising to "beat the ash" and travel by sea on its passenger ferry service.

Virtu Ferries managing director Henri Saliba said a number of groups opted to leave Malta by sea, some proceeding by coach all the way up to Austria and Germany.

"Fortunately for the passengers, there was an alternative," he said, pointing out that the situation had returned to normal once travellers started to expect the controls to ease and preferred to wait on the basis of those indications.

However, the sea route did not work for everyone. A football fan had to miss his trip to Milan to watch the Champions League Inter-Barcelona match because his tickets never arrived via mail.

Globally, grounded air cargo flights have halted delivery of items, including mail, with Europe's largest express company, Deutsche Post, switching to road transport where possible.

Moving to sea cargo was also an option for longer deliveries, although not for perishables, but shipping analysts have said it would take several more days before firms started rebooking by boat.

Pharmaceutical supplies are often transported by air but experts said there were no serious shortages for now due to sufficient stocks.

The closure of airspace in parts of Europe was also impacting mail to and from Malta via main European airports since Thursday, Maltapost said.

It was exploring and using every option possible, including trucking, for alternative routes to affected destinations.

Outgoing mail was being processed normally and dispatched to the airport to start its outbound journey as soon as alternative routes became available, or flights resumed, Maltapost said.

A huge backlog of airfreight has accumulated at Lufthansa's Frankfurt hub and Malta has about 20 tonnes of cargo piling up, a spokesman for Lufthansa Cargo said.

He said it was hoped that if the situation improved, the backlog would be cleared by the end of the week.

"The situation over continental Europe is not that intense and we are expecting the number of flights to increase," he said.

In cooperation with the Max Planck Institute in Mainz, Lufthansa yesterday carried out the first wide-scale measuring flight in European airspace to obtain clear evidence and exact data about the concentration of the volcanic ash.

Air Malta has also made alternative arrangements for cargo stuck in Frankfurt by trucking it to other airports currently serviced by the airline. It was making use of every available flight from Rome, Marseille and Toulouse, the company said.

The cargo section has now also finalised trucking arrangements to Zurich, which has become available since yesterday afternoon. Even courier mail from Heathrow was being shipped via Zurich, the airline said.

Air Malta said the alternatives were possible because it has operated over 36 relief flights to mainland Europe since Friday and would be adding more today, over and above its normal schedule, subject to the lifting of airspace restrictions and flight slots confirmed.

Yesterday, it cancelled 61 flights, while 38 operated normally, and the airline is offering its passengers free rebooking on any of its scheduled flights, or a full ticket refund. A manufacturing company said it found an alternative route to the US via Dubai, praising the Emirates connection.

The UAE airline is preparing for a wave of flights into Europe, following signs that the volcanic ash clouds may be subsiding, after grounding 20 per cent of its fleet over the last five days - a disruption that cost it around $50 million.

Over 250 Emirates' flights have been cancelled and more than 80,000 passengers impacted, it said in a statement.

Ryanair yesterday confirmed its cancellations in Northern Europe have been extended to 1 p.m. tomorrow, when, on the basis of improved meteorological forecasts and more accurate analysis of the volcanic ash, it hoped to resume a substantial proportion of its operations.

The airline's best estimate was that normal flight operations would resume from about 1 p.m. on Friday and it expected its net profit to be impacted by about €6 million per day over the seven days of the disruptions.

Seventy-five Maltese from Belgium and 150 from the UK have been assisted so far by the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Parliamentary Secretariat for Tourism, which organised coaches from the embassies in both countries to the airports of Marseille and Rome to catch Air Malta flights home.