Air travellers were facing at least two days of delays after a huge cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano provoked the most extensive shutdown of airspace since the September 11 attacks in 2001.
How Stuff Works: Volcanoes
Photograph by: INGOLFUR JULIUSSON
Experts warned the fallout from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in southeast Iceland, which covered the skies of northern Europe Thursday, could take several days to clear.
The eruption has already melted the 250-metre (820-feet) thick glacier around it, causing severe floods.
And with thousands stranded in airports around the world, the European air traffic control group Eurocontrol said planes could stay grounded for at least 48 hours.
It estimated that 5,000 to 6,000 flights were cancelled overall on Thursday as grey ash from the second major eruption in Iceland in less than a month blew across the north Atlantic, closing major airports more than 2,100 kilometres (1,300 miles) away.
And those closures meant that Europe-bound flights were grounded all around the world.
Eurocontrol predicted that at least half of the 600 daily flights between Europe and North America would be cancelled Friday.
Belgium, Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden shut down their airspace because the ash threatened jet engines and visibility.
Finland, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain also experienced major disruption.
(Agencies)--
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