Flights İn Australia Grounded For Second Day Due To Ash

Airlines including Qantas, Jetstar and Tiger suspended their flights to and from various parts of the region.

Strong winds have carried ash particles from Chile's Puyehue volcano to southern New Zealand and Australia.

Air travel in South America also continues to be disrupted, with flights in and out of the Argentine and Uruguayan capitals cancelled.

The particles have the potential to seriously damage jet engines.

New Zealand's national carrier, Air New Zealand, issued a warning that it may be forced to ground some flights if the situation worsens.

"We may well be affected later on today and tomorrow because if we can't exit or operate across the Tasman Sea and get to 20,000 feet before we enter into controlled air space then we will have issues in the next few days," said the airline's chief pilot David Morgan.

Precautionary measure

The ash cloud is again affecting flights in South America.

Copa and American Airlines both cancelled flights into the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, after authorities said they expected ash from the volcano to affect Uruguay's air space.

Flights to and from Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, and other main cities were also cancelled.

Argentina's civil aviation authority said on Sunday it had limited air operations as a result of the ash cloud.

Analysts say uncertainty regarding the effect of ash on planes complicates the situation.

The problem is that there is a lot of speculation about the actual impact of the ash," said Siva Govindasamy of Flight Global.

"That is a big worry for the airlines and as a result they are cancelling flights as a precautionary measure," he added.

Mr Govindasamy said that until there was clarity about this, airlines would keep cancelling flights to keep both their passengers and aircraft safe.

Tough times
Airlines in the region have been through some tough times since the start of this year.

Natural disasters in Australia, New Zealand and Japan have seen demand for air travel in the region suffer.