Ash spreads,more flights grounded

Thousands of flights have been cancelled since the disruption began on Thursday,stranding or delaying millions of passengers across airports from North America to Asia. The situation is not expected to improve much before the weekend.

Cathay Pacific,which closed online check-in for flights to northern Europe,went so far as to warn its passengers to postpone nonessential journeys to Europe until next month because its flights were already booked and it expected that after planes resume flights,routes throughout Europe will remain congested for some time.

Later in the day,as the plume drifted eastward,some countries began allowing flights. The French civil aviation authority said it would allow a limited number of aircraft to land at Charles de Gaulle,Orly and Le Bourget airports near Paris until 6 pm local time. Ireland,Scotland and Sweden also began to ease restrictions. At the same time,more airports in Eastern Europe began to shut down.

Czech authorities began to close their airspace,and Eurocontrol said that much of Polish airspace,including the Warsaw airport,was closed. It was not immediately clear if that would affect world leaders planning to attend the state funeral of the Polish president,Lech Kaczynski,and his wife. Earlier,the White House had said President Obama would depart Washington on Saturday evening to fly to Krakow for the funeral on Sunday.