London:
Ash clouds from Icelandic volcano continued to hang over European skies shutting down major airport hubs like Frankfurt, London and Paris for the second day disrupting travel plans of politicians including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, royals and tourists.
Singh and his entourage flying back home from Brazil also became a casualty of the flying ash disaster as the plane had to be re-routed via Johannesburg in South Africa as the Frankfurt Airport was closed to air traffic.
So thick was the ash drift that airport officials said that they did not know when the skies over aviation's most congested airspace in Europe could be safe again. The ash clouds disrupted hundreds of flights, stranded thousands of travellers and wrecked travel plans of countless others.
Almost all trans-atlantic flights were affected as also flights between Asia and Europe. Most of the London and European bound flights of Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher were running indefinitely late, as also flights to US and Canada, which fly through Europe.
Britain extended a ban on all non-emergency flights over its airspace till 1800 hrs GMT and flights at Frankfurt Airport, the biggest in Germany were halted indefinitely. France also shut down as many as twenty four airports. Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Lithuania and Belgium also closed their airspace.
This was the biggest flight disruption since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and thousands of passengers were marooned at airports in Europe.
A spokesman for Eurocontrol Air Traffic Service said half of the trans-atlantic flights were cancelled. London's Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest in the world catering to 1200 flights a day appeared to be a bustling market place with travellers glued to electronic departure boards on which all flights were listed as cancelled.
Behind the travellers woes, is a volcano beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier which began erupting on Wednesday for second time in less than a month spewing smoke and steam miles into the air.
Singh and his entourage flying back home from Brazil also became a casualty of the flying ash disaster as the plane had to be re-routed via Johannesburg in South Africa as the Frankfurt Airport was closed to air traffic.
So thick was the ash drift that airport officials said that they did not know when the skies over aviation's most congested airspace in Europe could be safe again. The ash clouds disrupted hundreds of flights, stranded thousands of travellers and wrecked travel plans of countless others.
Almost all trans-atlantic flights were affected as also flights between Asia and Europe. Most of the London and European bound flights of Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher were running indefinitely late, as also flights to US and Canada, which fly through Europe.
Britain extended a ban on all non-emergency flights over its airspace till 1800 hrs GMT and flights at Frankfurt Airport, the biggest in Germany were halted indefinitely. France also shut down as many as twenty four airports. Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Lithuania and Belgium also closed their airspace.
This was the biggest flight disruption since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and thousands of passengers were marooned at airports in Europe.
A spokesman for Eurocontrol Air Traffic Service said half of the trans-atlantic flights were cancelled. London's Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest in the world catering to 1200 flights a day appeared to be a bustling market place with travellers glued to electronic departure boards on which all flights were listed as cancelled.
Behind the travellers woes, is a volcano beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier which began erupting on Wednesday for second time in less than a month spewing smoke and steam miles into the air.
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