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.

THE latest ash cloud crisis may have been averted — but European airspace regulators and airlines remain on a collision course over the risk to air safety from volcanic emissions.

European airspace could be back to normal tomorrow as ash from the Iceland volcano dissipates rapidly, air traffic control bosses said today.

A cloud of volcanic ash which has caused chaos for air travellers spread to Germany today, forcing the closure of Berlin’s airport and threatening to disrupt European flights for days.

Iceland closed its main international airport and cancelled domestic flights today as a powerful volcanic eruption sent a plume of ash, smoke and steam 12 miles into the air.

Iceland’s most active volcano has started erupting, scientists said – just over a year after another eruption on the North Atlantic island shut down European air traffic for days.

Aviation authorities were right to ground commercial jets for seven days after last year’s volcanic eruption in Iceland, a study has found.

THE Icelandic ash cloud crisis could finally be over after experts claimed the Eyjafjallajokull volcano is no longer active.

NEW measures to tackle flight disruption caused by the volcanic ash cloud have been introduced.

AIRLINES are expected to operate as normal for the rest of the week as weather patterns pushed a volcanic ash cloud into north-east Europe.

Airlines are expected to operate as normal for the rest of the week as weather patterns pushed a volcanic ash cloud into north east Europe today.

Flight restrictions affecting Heathrow and Gatwick airports have been lifted, British air traffic control company Nats have said.

Britain’s two biggest airports were suffering major flight disruption today - and a string of others were closed – after the return of the Icelandic ash cloud caused chaos for thousands of passengers.

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Micheál Martin was one of thousands of people whose travel plans were dashed by the return of volcanic ash clouds in Irish airspace.

VOLCANIC ash from Iceland has helped ferry group Irish Continental to achieve near flat year-on-year revenue of €75.7m and before-tax earnings of €8.0m.

TOURISM Minister Mary Hanafin has insisted that the Irish tourist industry is reacting in a “consistent, calm and coordinated manner” to the crisis caused by volcanic ash disruption.

Ash cloud disruption to flights could last all summer as there are no signs that the eruption from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland is about to end.

Most Irish airports are set to operate normally until 4pm tomorrow, aviation authorities said this evening, however warning that there is an “increased risk” of disruption from the volcanic ash cloud.

Volcanic ash from Iceland caused yet more travel disruption today as a number of flights from the UK and Ireland to Spain, Portugal and France were grounded.

TRANSATLANTIC flights from the United States to Ireland and the rest of Europe could be affected this weekend by the increased volcanic ash plume that is hovering over the Atlantic Ocean.

FASTEN your seat belts – the threat to air travel from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland is likely to remain for the summer months, according to the Irish Aviation Authority.

Airline schedules were returning to normal tonight as aviation chiefs warned a volcanic ash plume could wreak more travel havoc in the coming days.

Air passengers faced further misery tonight as the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud returned.

IN the ageless contest between man and nature, nature reasserted its primacy for an entire week, crippling air travel around the world and sending shudders through the global economy.

SOME airline passengers stranded abroad may not be able to return to Ireland until the middle of next month because of the massive backlog in available flights.

Thousands of flights took off from European airports today after a week of unprecedented disruptions, but shifting winds sent a new plume of volcanic ash over Scandinavia.

SOMETIMES all you can do is laugh. Amid the chaos caused by the now almost week-long shutdown of airports across Europe, news alerts on Monday evening suggested an even worse scenario had arrived.

STRANDED passengers were thrown a lifeline last night as aviation chiefs gave the go-ahead for Irish and British airspace to reopen.

CONNACHT GAA officials will make a decision tonight about whether they can stage Saturday’s ESB MFC quarter-final tie in Pearse Stadium between Galway and New York due to the air travel restrictions caused by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland.

TWO of Iceland’s leading experts on volcanoes warned yesterday that the Eyjafjallajokull eruption could last for up to two years, bringing further air traffic chaos to Europe.

For most people the cloud of volcanic ash drifting across the UK will just mean a spectacular red sunset.

Hundreds of people in Iceland have been evacuated from their homes amid fears of a second volcanic eruption, Civil Protection Agency officials said today.

Iceland’s latest volcanic eruption is coming to an end and with it the unexpected tourist boom that lifted the recession-hit country’s financial fortunes.

A VOLCANO erupted near a glacier in southern Iceland on Saturday, shooting ash and molten lava into the air and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people from nearby villages.