Flight bans extend as ash cloud spreads

Millions of people face worsening travel chaos as a volcanic ash cloud from Iceland moves further south and east, forcing European countries to extend flight bans.
France has decided to shut the three airports in the Paris area and others in the north of the country until 8am (1600 AEST) on Monday due to the ash cloud that has caused the biggest airspace shutdown since World War II.
Italy also says it won't allow any flights until 0600 GMT (1600 AEST) on Monday, Ireland has shut its airspace until 1200 GMT (2200 AEST) on Sunday and Britain and Germany have lengthened bans on most flights in their airspace until 0600 GMT (1600 AEST) on Sunday.
Additionally, British Airways has cancelled all its flights due to have arrived in and departed London on Sunday.
Winds blowing the massive cloud eastward from Iceland to Russia will continue in the same direction for at least two days and could go on until the middle of the week, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said on Saturday.
"The ash will continue to be directed towards Britain and Scandinavia," Teitur Arason, a meteorologist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, told AFP.
"That's the general situation for the coming days... more or less for the next two days or maybe the next four or five days," he said.
The volcanic ash cloud is heading towards Greece as it moves further south as well as east into Russia, Britain's meteorological group the Met Office said on Saturday.
Other European nations have also moved to extend their flight bans, including Austria to 0000 GMT (1000 AEST) on Sunday and Belgium to 1200 GMT (2200 AEST) on Sunday.
Poland says it's shutting its airspace "until further notice".
The closure of Poland's airspace has thrown into doubt the attendance of world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, in the southern city of Krakow on Sunday for the funeral of president Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria.
The Kaczynski couple were among 96 people, most of them Polish dignitaries, killed in a plane crash in Russia last Saturday on their way to a World War II memorial service.
About 17,000 flights in European airspace on Saturday were cancelled due to the cloud of volcanic ash, said Eurocontrol, which coordinates air traffic control in 38 nations.
Whereas a normal Saturday would see 22,000 flights in Europe, Eurocontrol said only about 5,000 were able to operate - and out of a routine 300-odd incoming trans-Atlantic flights a mere 73 had so far arrived.
With flights grounded all over Europe, stranded holidaymakers and business travellers sought any means possible to get home - or contented themselves with just staying put.
Iceland's Eyjafjoell volcano erupted on Wednesday, sending ash drifting towards Europe at an altitude of about eight to 10 kilometres.
Europe's three biggest airports - Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt - were closed on Saturday, leaving passengers stranded across the world as a global flight backlog built up.
An official for the Eurostar Channel tunnel rail service said thousands more passengers than normal were set to travel on its trains between London and the continent on Saturday.
Justifying the widespread airport closures, aviation officials have explained that aircraft engines could become clogged up and stop working if they tried to fly through the ash.
In the past 20 years, there have been 80 recorded encounters between aircraft and volcanic clouds, causing the near-loss of two Boeing 747s with almost 500 people on board and damage to 20 other planes, experts said.
The International Air Transport Association meanwhile has warned of the economic fallout from the volcano eruption in southeast Iceland.
According to their figures it's costing airlines more than $US200 million ($A214.04 million) a day.