London:
A cloud of volcanic ash smothering Europe tightened its powerful control of the skies on Sunday, enforcing a fourth day of travel misery for millions of travellers and casting a shadow over the Polish president's funeral.
About 30 countries have now closed or restricted their airspace, with the cloud of fine mineral dust particles from Iceland now extending from the Arctic Circle in the north to the French Mediterranean coast in the south and from Spain into Russia.
Some countries, such as the Netherlands, started carrying out test flights to see if jets could safely fly however.
Britain extended its ban on flights in its airspace until late on Sunday and British Airways cancelled all flights in and out of London for the whole day.
Germany and most Scandinavian and central European countries also kept the flight ban in place, extending the biggest airspace shutdown since World War II.
With the blanket spreading, Italy and Spain said they would not allow flights into the northern parts of their countries. The cloud is now heading toward Greece and into Russia, weather experts said.
With hundreds of thousands of travellers now stranded around the globe, prevailing winds blowing the massive cloud from Iceland toward Europe could go on until the middle of the week, Iceland's Meteorological Office has warned.
"The ash will continue to be directed towards Britain and Scandinavia," Teitur Arason, a meteorologist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, told.
Poland shut its airspace until further notice.
The closure has stopped world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, from flying to the southern city of Krakow for the funeral of president Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria.
Some governments, such as France, have set up emergency cells to work out how to get stranded nationals home.
Some 17,000 flights in European airspace yesterday were cancelled due to the cloud, said Eurocontrol, which coordinates air traffic control in 38 nations. Only about 5,000 out of 22,000 flights in Europe were able to operate, the agency said.
German airspace will remain closed until 8 pm (2330 IST) on Friday because of the volcanic dust cloud from Iceland, a spokeswoman for the national air safety agency DFS announced.
Europe's biggest airline Lufthansa announced earlier that it was cancelling all its flights until the same time.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be unable to attend the funeral later on Sunday of president Lech Kacynski in Poland because of the travel turmoil, a government spokesman said.
But Dutch airline KLM staged a test flight with a jet today, which Dutch authorities said had ended "safely".
About 30 countries have now closed or restricted their airspace, with the cloud of fine mineral dust particles from Iceland now extending from the Arctic Circle in the north to the French Mediterranean coast in the south and from Spain into Russia.
Some countries, such as the Netherlands, started carrying out test flights to see if jets could safely fly however.
Britain extended its ban on flights in its airspace until late on Sunday and British Airways cancelled all flights in and out of London for the whole day.
Germany and most Scandinavian and central European countries also kept the flight ban in place, extending the biggest airspace shutdown since World War II.
With the blanket spreading, Italy and Spain said they would not allow flights into the northern parts of their countries. The cloud is now heading toward Greece and into Russia, weather experts said.
With hundreds of thousands of travellers now stranded around the globe, prevailing winds blowing the massive cloud from Iceland toward Europe could go on until the middle of the week, Iceland's Meteorological Office has warned.
"The ash will continue to be directed towards Britain and Scandinavia," Teitur Arason, a meteorologist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, told.
Poland shut its airspace until further notice.
The closure has stopped world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, from flying to the southern city of Krakow for the funeral of president Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria.
Some governments, such as France, have set up emergency cells to work out how to get stranded nationals home.
Some 17,000 flights in European airspace yesterday were cancelled due to the cloud, said Eurocontrol, which coordinates air traffic control in 38 nations. Only about 5,000 out of 22,000 flights in Europe were able to operate, the agency said.
German airspace will remain closed until 8 pm (2330 IST) on Friday because of the volcanic dust cloud from Iceland, a spokeswoman for the national air safety agency DFS announced.
Europe's biggest airline Lufthansa announced earlier that it was cancelling all its flights until the same time.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be unable to attend the funeral later on Sunday of president Lech Kacynski in Poland because of the travel turmoil, a government spokesman said.
But Dutch airline KLM staged a test flight with a jet today, which Dutch authorities said had ended "safely".
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