17,000 planes remain on the tarmac

VOLCANIC ash sifted down on parts of northern Europe yesterday and 17,000 thousand planes stayed on the tarmac to avoid the hazardous cloud as travel chaos engulfed major European cities.

Eurocontrol, the European air traffic agency, said the travel disruptions that reverberated throughout the world on Thursday were even worse yesterday, with about 11,000 flights expected to operate in Europe instead of the usual 28,000. It said delays will continue well into today at least as the massive ash cloud moves slowly south and east.

“There will be significant disruption of air traffic tomorrow,” spokesman Brian Flynn said, adding the agency would hold a meeting on Monday of aviation officials from all 40 Eurocontrol countries.