Volcanic ash hits flights worldwide

Travellers have scrambled for other modes of transport as Iceland's volcanic ash cloud kept planes grounded in the UK and Europe for a second day.

Britain's National Air Traffic Service (Nats) has extended its restrictions on all
UK airspace until at least 0100 BST (1000 AEST) on Saturday.
A small number of services were allowed to fly into and out of Northern Ireland and
western Scotland, but the continuing volcanic eruption caused cancellations across
Europe on Friday amid fears the ash could cause engine failures.
European air traffic control organisation Eurocontrol said flights could be
disrupted into the weekend.
The Republic of Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Belgium and the
Netherlands closed their air spaces and airports were shut in France and Germany.
Australian Stephanie McNamara and her husband, Michael Bruning, decided to take a
packed train to Calais in hopes of catching a ferry back to England after their
flight from Paris to London was cancelled on Thursday.
After discovering that in-demand seats on the Eurostar train would cost them STG450
($A745), the couple braved a long wait at Gare du Nord train station to book fares
for the three-hour journey to Calais the following morning.
"Everyone's descended on Calais, needless to say," said Ms McNamara, who lives in
London.
"We don't know if we'll get a ferry today ... it's been an OK process, everyone's
quite friendly and nobody's lost it yet, but it is only 10.30 in the morning."
It was an arduous end to a wine-tasting break, but Ms McNamara was looking on the
bright side.
"We're plied with bottles of wine and fortunately my sister left me the bottle
opener," she said.
Only 11,000 flights were expected to operate in European airspace on Friday, instead
of the usual 28,000.
An estimated 600,000 passengers have been affected in the UK.
Rail and ferry services reported increases in passenger numbers on Friday, with
ferry operators saying there were significant rises in customers on services
departing from Wales.
Eurostar services were full, with more than 10,000 bookings made on Thursday after
the air restrictions went into force.
The British ice hockey team departed on an 18-hour coach journey to Slovenia via the
Channel Tunnel to France for the world championships.