Flight ban extended again

Irish air space will remain shut down until tomorrow at least as fears grow of widespread travel disruption for another week, it emerged today.

Aviation chiefs said they were banning all flights in and out of Ireland until at least 1pm tomorrow.

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) also signalled the likelihood further restrictions with no sign of the volcanic ash cloud moving away.

“Met experts are predicting that the prevailing weather conditions will continue in the coming days,” said an IAA spokesman.

“Ongoing restrictions are therefore likely.”

The ban includes all transatlantic flights.

In the North, flight restrictions have been extended until 1am tomorrow.

Sparking fears of widespread disruption until next weekend, Met Eireann has predicted no change in the weather patterns sweeping massive plumes across Ireland, Britain and mainland Europe.

Forecaster Evelyn Cusack, who briefed the Government Taskforce on Emergency Planning yesterday, said it could be the end of next week before conditions change.

“It looks like we’re still into a regime where winds will be coming down directly from Iceland across Ireland, Britain, northern and central Europe well into next week,” she said.

“In fact, our latest forecast models don’t show a change to Atlantic south westerlies until next Friday at the earliest.”

The lingering ash cloud has forced President Mary McAleese to abandon plans to fly to Poland for today’s State funeral of President Lech Kaczynski.

The Air Corps said the conditions made it impossible to travel to Krakow for the ceremony.

President Lech Kaczynski was among 96 victims, including his wife and much of Poland’s ruling elite, who were wiped out in the Smolensk air disaster.