The aviation authorities have again extended a ban for commercial air travel as a cloud of volcano ash from Iceland continues to hang over much of Europe.
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The Federal Civil Aviation Office said given the latest data it had no choice but to close Swiss airspace for safety reasons until Monday 2pm.
The office is to re-assess the situation at the beginning of the week, according to spokesman Daniel Göring.
About 20 countries in northern, central but also partially in southern Europe closed their airspace and extended flight bans into Monday.
Swiss Federal Railways has doubled its services on international lines to neighbouring countries, but many rail passengers have not been able to get seats.
Millions of stranded travellers across Europe face chaos and the International Air Transport Association (Iata) expects little or no improvement at short notice.
The last plane took off from Switzerland’s main airport of Zurich last Friday. More than 1,500 flights had to be cancelled since.
President Doris Leuthard had to call off her visit to Poland to attend the funeral of the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, on Sunday.
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Swiss airspace remains closed until Sunday
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The Federal Civil Aviation Office said Swiss airspace would remain closed until Sunday 2pm for aircraft flying at an altitude below 6,000 metres. Thousands of air travellers were stranded as flights from and to Switzerland were cancelled for a second day and virtually all of Europe’s major airports remain closed. Swiss International Airlines announced its…
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Thousands of air travelers were stranded as flights were being cancelled for a second day. The Federal Civil Aviation Office has announced the Swiss airspace would remain closed until Sunday 2pm. A spokesman said the plume of volcanic ash had hardly moved all day Saturday and the weather conditions were set to remain unchanged for…
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By early evening on Thursday, 80 takeoffs and landings from Zurich had been cancelled. In Geneva, about 100 flights had been affected. Basel’s Euroairport was also hit. In the same period the airline Swiss had had to cancel 70 European flights, its spokesman said. However, none of its planes was stuck outside Switzerland, he added.…
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The civil aviation office announced the ban on Friday afternoon. It began at midnight, when the ash was expected to arrive over Switzerland, and remains in force until at least 8pm on Saturday. The only planes still allowed to fly are those on search and rescue missions. The office said it was monitoring the situation…
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The volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier has become a major problem since it started spewing ash high into the atmosphere on April 14. The cloud it has generated has caused major interruptions in flights over Europe. (All pictures: Keystone)
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