Scores Stranded as Volcanic Clouds Linger over Europe

Hundreds of thousands of air passengers remain stranded on Saturday as massive drifts of volcanic ash continued to blanket European airspace, forcing airlines and air controllers to call off 17,000 of the usual 28,000 flights, say reports in the international media.

Passengers had to cancel travel plans as the ash cloud forced a virtual no fly zone over most of Europe shutting down major hubs like, London, Paris and Frankfurt.

The black plume hung over Europe or the third consecutive day amid fears of the ash continuing to linger on for another five days.

Air Traffic Controllers in Britain, Germany, Denmark, Nordic countries, France and most of Eastern European countries, announced that no flights would operate till Sunday.

An IATA spokesman said the grounding of major airliners was costing the industry at least $ 200 million a day.

The flying ash also affected airlines in US and Asia even as passengers awaited official word on when the flights schedules would return to normal.

Poland shut all airports till further notice, triggering doubts over the arrival of world including US President Barack Obama who was to fly into the country Sunday to attend the funeral of President Lech Kaczynski.

Ireland reimposed flight ban over its airspace, Austria, Belgium, France and Switzerland too said there would be no flight operations till Sunday.