By Tim Castle
LONDON (Reuters) - Europe's air travel chaos deepened on Saturday as a huge cloud of volcanic ash spread further across the continent, halting nearly three in four flights and stranding thousands of passengers worldwide.
European aviation agency Eurocontrol said no landings or takeoffs were possible for civilian aircraft in most of northern and central Europe because of the cloud from an Icelandic volcano which was still erupting.
It expected 6,000 flights in European airspace or 27.3 percent of the normal level for a Saturday. On Friday there were 10,400 flights, 35.9 percent of the usual number for that day.
"Forecasts suggest that the cloud of volcanic ash will persist and that the impact will continue for at least the next 24 hours," the agency said in a statement.
The plume that floated through the upper atmosphere, where it could wreak havoc on jet engines and airframes, was costing airlines hundreds of millions of dollars and has thrown travel plans into disarray around the world.
The volcanic eruption appeared to be easing up on Saturday but could continue for days or even months to come, officials said.
Disruption spread to Asia, where dozens of Europe-bound flights were canceled and hotels from Beijing to Singapore strained to accommodate thousands of stranded passengers.
In Singapore, a major transit point for Europe-bound air traffic, 22 flights were canceled early on Saturday, Changi Airport spokesman Ivan Tan told Reuters.
"We don't know where to stay," said German citizen Dirk Kronewald. "Singapore hotels are full."
The U.S. military had to reroute many flights, including those evacuating the wounded from Afghanistan and Iraq, a Pentagon spokesman said.
European finance chiefs scrambled to find a way home from a meeting in the Spanish capital Madrid. The Intercontinental Hotel, where European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet and many other finance ministers and central bankers were staying, was quoting a price of 4,000 euros ($5,600) for a chauffeur-driven car to Paris.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, diverted to Portugal on Friday when trying to return to Germany from the United States, was due to fly to Rome on the latest stage of her odyssey.
Britain, Denmark and Germany were among the countries to announce their airspace was closed for the whole of Saturday and German carrier Lufthansa said it had no planes in the air anywhere in the world. "There has never been anything like this," a spokesman said.
The disruption is the worst since the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001, when U.S. airspace was closed for three days and European airlines were forced to halt all transatlantic services.
Sara Bicoccih, stranded at Frankfurt airport on her way home to Italy from Miami, said: "I am furious and frustrated."
Disruption was costing airlines more than $200 million a day, air industry group the International Air Transport Association said.
But unless the cloud disrupts flights for weeks, threatening factories' supply chains, economists do not think it will significantly slow Europe's shaky recovery from recession or affect second-quarter gross domestic product figures.
"The overall impact should be very limited even if the problem persists for a day or more," IHS Global Insight chief UK and European economist Howard Archer said.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Vulcanologists say the ash could cause problems to air traffic for up to six months if the eruption continues. The financial impact on airlines could be significant.
The fallout hit airline shares on Friday with Lufthansa, British Airways, Air Berlin, Air France-KLM, Iberia and Ryanair down between 1.4 and 3.0 percent.
Irish airline Ryanair, Europe's biggest low-cost carrier, said it would cancel flights to and from northern European countries until 8:00 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT) on Monday.
Delta Air Lines, the world's largest airline, canceled 75 flights between the United States and European Union countries on Friday, Delta spokesman Anthony Black said.
The volcano began erupting on Wednesday for the second time in a month from below the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, hurling a plume of ash 6 to 11 km (3.75 to 6.875 miles) into the atmosphere. By Saturday this had fallen to 5 to 8 km (3.125 to 5 miles).
"The eruption could go on like that for a long time," said Bergthora Thorbjarnardottir, a geophysicist at the Meteorological Office. "Every volcano is different and we don't have much experience with this one -- it's been 200 years since it erupted last."
(Reporting by London, Geneva, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Reykjavik, Washington, Frankfurt and Berlin newsrooms; Writing by Mark Trevelyan; editing by Ralph Boulton)
