European flight bans extended as volcano spews ash

REYKJAVIK/BERLIN/LONDON - The closure of European airspace widened Saturday as activity from an Icelandic volcano continued to play havoc with airline operations.

A flight ban was imposed in Romania, Ukraine and northern Italy, after similar action across the British Isles, northern and central Europe, the European air-traffic safety body Eurocontrol said.

The Meteorological Institute in Reykjavik said Saturday morning that it had observed no change to the activity of the volcano near the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier on the southern part of the island.

Winds had turned to the south, meaning that the clouds of ash would continue to be driven across Europe.

Eurocontrol said the clouds had formed into a pincer, spreading southwards across the continent, leaving only Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus in the north and “southern Europe, including Spain, the southern Balkan area, southern Italy, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey” unaffected.

The safety panel said it expected only 6,000 of the 22,000 flights that are normal for a Saturday would be able to take off or land, adding that no immediate let up was in sight.

“Forecasts suggest that the cloud of volcanic ash will persist and that the impact will continue for at least the next 24 hours,” Eurocontrol warned.

As conditions continued to worsen, countries around Europe kept planes on the ground for a third day, stranding tens of thousands of travellers.

Britain extended the closure of its airspace until at least 7 pm (2330 IST) and reversed its decision to lift restrictions on Scotland and Northern Ireland, hours after easing them, the BBC reported.

Germany closed its airspace in all 16 of its international airports and regional airports until at least 2 pm (1730 IST) Saturday. Hamburg airport extended the closure for a further 24 hours, until Sunday afternoon.

Germany carrier Lufthansa cancelled all flights through German airspace until 8 pm (2330 IST) Saturday. Additional trains were running across Germany to meet the rise in demand.

It remained unclear when German Chancellor Angela Merkel would be able to return home from a visit to the US. Her plane was diverted to Lisbon in Portugal where she spent Friday night.

Some 126 airports in France, including including Paris’ two airports, were expected to remain closed until 8 pm. Flights were expected to resume in Grenoble and Bordeaux at 4 pm.

The flight ban aggravated traffic problems in France, already reeling from a rail strike now in its 11th day. The start of the school holidays added to the chaos on the roads.

Airports remained closed in Poland, including the one at Krakow, where dozes of world leaders are due for Sunday’s funeral of President Lech Kaczynski and his wife.

Belgian media reported that flight operations in that country were not expected to return to normal until Monday.

Budget carrier Ryanair said the continuing emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere over Iceland caused it to cancel all scheduled flights to and from Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, Northern France, northern Germany,

Poland and the Baltic States until 1 pm Monday.

“This spreading cloud of volcanic ash is an unprecedented event in Ryanair’s 26-year-history,” the airline’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said.

Airlines fear the ash could get sucked into planes’ jet engines, causing them to cut out.