International and domestic flights through Australian airports were cancelled today as an ash cloud from a Chilean volcano moved into the country’s airspace.

Airlines started flying a backlog of thousands of stranded passengers to and from Australia’s second-largest city today after an ash cloud from a Chilean volcano began to clear.

Thousands of passengers in Australia and New Zealand were affected when airlines suspended flights today as an ash cloud from an erupting volcano in southern Chile spread, threatening to damage engines.

Ash from a Chilean volcano fell across a wide swath of Latin America today, forcing cancellation of dozens of flights and grounding the presidents of Argentina and Uruguay.