Thousands stranded due to Iceland volcano

Updated at: 1055 PST, Saturday, April 17, 2010
REYKJAVIK: Thousands of air passengers were stranded for a second day Saturday because of ash from an Icelandic volcano that paralyzed European airports.

Most major European airports have been closed as a plume of volcanic ash drifts south from Iceland across the continent, bringing travel chaos.

Air traffic suspensions are now in force in more than a dozen countries in an unprecedented move.

Thousands of travellers are stranded and airlines are losing an estimated $200m each day.

Many countries and airlines have grounded fleets amid fears that the ash a mixture of glass, sand and rock particles, drifting from 5,000ft (1,500 metres) - could be catastrophic to aircraft.

In some of the biggest disruption in commercial aviation history, a swathe of northern European sky was empty of aircraft on Friday.

About two-thirds of the 28,000 daily flights in the affected zone were cancelled, while only half the usual number of flights between Europe and North America operated.

Some 20 countries shut down all or most of their airspace, although restrictions were gradually lifted in Sweden, Ireland and Norway.

Europe's busiest airports, including Heathrow, Frankfurt and Charles de Gaulle, have been affected by the closures.

The disruption has affected hundreds of thousands of travellers since Wednesday when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano began erupting for the second time in a month.