MULTIPLE ash clouds from the erupting Chilean volcano are moving across the Southern Ocean, grounding flights and causing travel chaos. News.com.au will post live updates on the travel disruptions as they come to hand. (Times in AEST.)

FRIDAY

4.30am: Trans-Tasman flights will begin to come back today but some New Zealand services remain stalled because of a large volcanic ash cloud covering the south island.

Ash plumes from a Chilean volcano have cleared out of Australian airspace but a heavy blanket of ash covering New Zealand's south island is still causing havoc for air travellers.

Qantas had suspended its trans-Tasman flights since Sunday but will resume flights to and from Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown today.

Jetstar too will be back flying across the Tasman for Auckland and Queenstown, putting on extra flights for Auckland to help clear the backlog of passengers.

But both airlines won't be flying to Christchurch yet.

Pacific Blue, part of the Virgin Australia Group of Airlines, will operate flights this morning from Auckland to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane but said all other trans-Tasman services remained under review.



And Air New Zealand says it will be operating domestic and trans-Tasman services from this morning with the exception of Queenstown.

















THURSDAY



10.45am Qantas, Jetstar, Skywest and most other airlines have resumed services to Perth. Virgin Australia and Tiger Airways have flagged a resumption of flights from noon (2pm AEST) today.



Perth Airport has warned that due to yesterdays flight cancellations, delays may be experienced as the backlog is cleared. Jetstar are offering additional services to and from Perth to help clear the backlog.



The Bureau of Meteorology's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre has reported that the ash cloud is moving off WA's southwest and out to sea. Airservices Australia spokesman Matt Wardell said that because of this, flights should be able to continue unhindered for at least the next 48 hours.



9.15am Tiger Airways has cancelled morning services between Melbourne and Perth. Qantas, Virgin Australia and Jetstar are planning to resume flights to Perth and Tasmania.



7.21am Flights between Australia and New Zealand remain affected by Chile's volcanic ash cloud. Pacific Blue, part of the Virgin Australia group, announced this morning that it will suspend flights into and out of Auckland and Hamilton, New Zealand.

Virgin's group executive of operations Sean Donohue said the plume that had been in the Christchurch, Wellington and Dunedin regions has moved further north, necessitating the schedule changes.

"These cancellations are in addition to the six flights cancelled yesterday to and from Australia to Christchurch and Wellington,'' Mr Donohue said in a statement.

Qantas flights between Australia and New Zealand remain suspended, as it has been since the weekend.

Air New Zealand has joined other airlines in cancelling some flights with services between Dunedin, Invercargill and Christchurch, and other routes, affected.

12.56am A desperately ill baby girl will have life-saving heart surgery tomorrow after a 2700km low-flying mercy dash to beat the volcanic ash cloud disrupting Australian airlines, the Herald Sun reports.

Bronwyn Bevan, three months, was rushed across three states to reach specialist care in Melbourne last night.

WEDNESDAY



9.53pm Qantas and Jetstar have announced they will resume flying to and from Perth from tomorrow after cancelling all flights today because of volcanic ash.

Both airlines are also back flying to Tasmania but have not resumed their flight to New Zealand.

The airlines say services to New Zealand remain suspended until noon tomorrow when the situation will be reviewed.

6.55pm Australian businessman and aviator Dick Smith has told the ABC the decision by airlines to suspend flights "ultra conservative".

"I'd fly in any airline which is flying at the moment, because I believe after the dust has gone two-thirds of the way around the world, that it's so spread out that it might have a long-term effect but I don't think it's going to have a short-term effect" - Dick Smith

5.40pm A baby has been raced to Melbourne for life-saving surgery in a race to beat ash cloud delays.

The Flying Doctor Service jet raced beneath a volcanic ash cloud over Western Australia to get the baby treatment after the ash plume brought forward its departure to about 1pm (WST) today.

5.00pm The ash cloud from a Chilean volcano will circumnavigate the globe a number of times, but Australia should escape a repeat of the chaos that shut down air services this week, an expert has said.

Professor Richard Arculus, from the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University, said the plume would go around the stratosphere for a few months before dissipating completely.

It will come around again, but it won't have as big an effect

3.30pm Virgin Australia's Perth flights will remain suspended until tomorrow afternoon and the airline has also cancelled some New Zealand flights due to the volcanic ash cloud.

2.12pm Qantas has announced it will resume flights to and from Tasmania tomorrow. Perth and New Zealand flights will remain suspended for the rest of the day.

1.54pm: Virgin has announced its flights in and out of Perth shall remain suspended until noon WST (2pm AEST) tomorrow, reported Sky News.



1.41pm: The Chilean volcano spewing dangerous ash high into the sky, sowing air travel havoc, could have even more intense eruptions in the days to come, government geologists have warned.



"It is possible there will be a return to increased eruptive activity" of the Puyehue volcano in southern Chile's Andes mountains, which started belching fumes on June 4, Chile's National Geological and Mines Service said today.



It said it was detecting no let-up in the volcano's emissions, which were towering eight kilometres into the troposphere.



1.12pm: Airlines should be clear to resume normal Tasmanian flights from tomorrow morning reports The Mercury.

The head of the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in Darwin Andrew Tupper said this morning that the ash cloud from the Puyehue volcano in Chile is expected to contract from the Tasmanian region in the next 18 hours leaving the state all clear tomorrow morning.



"At the moment the ash cloud over Tasmania is getting to the marginal level and dissipating away from the north - by tomorrow morning it will have diffused from the whole east coast," Dr Tupper said.



"Our only concern would be if the ash currently near Perth came across.



"Our current estimation is probably not, at least in the next 18 hours."



12:47pm: The Tasmanian government has denied that ferry company TT Line is price-gouging desperate passengers stranded by volcanic ash clouds affecting flights to and from Tasmania, The Mercury reports.

Liberal member Rene Hidding this morning told parliament he understood passengers were being charged up to $300 for seats on the company's vessels, when seats normally cost $99.

However the minister responsible for TT-Line, David O'Byrne, said normal fare structures applied on the services and travellers aren't being taking advantage of.

"I think you have to be acknowledge that seats are from $97, not all seats are $97, they're from $97 and like with airlines certain seats are available for sale and then there are fully fare or flexi-fare or whatever," he said.

"Normal pricing parameters are being applied."

12:14pm:Virgin will send extra flights to Tasmania to help passengers who are stranded by the fourth day of flight cancellations. The carrier sent return flights from Melbourne to Launceston and from Melbourne to Hobart to help passengers stranded by other airlines.

Meanwhile TT Line, the state-government owned operator of the Spirit of Tasmania ferries, said it is considering sending extra services between Melbourne and Devonport to ease the backlog.



Infrastructure Minister David O'Byrne told the state's parliament TT Line would make an announcement later today.



"But it's not something that you do on the basis that there might be some demand," Mr O'Byrne said.



"You have to relocate ships, you have to relocate crews, you have to change the existing departure and arrival times, which does have an impact on people who've already made bookings.



"It's a massive logistical exercise."

12:07pm: Meanwhile a regional plane bound for Sydney has been forced to turn around shortly after take-off due to a cracked windscreen.

The REX aircraft is awaiting inspection by engineers to find out the cause of the crack. The 19 passengers on board the 7am (AEST) flight from Lismore were put onto other flights.



9:19am: Virgin Australia and Qantas have cancelled Perth flights today, Sky News reports.



Sean Donohue from Virgin said the decision to suspend services was necessary because the plume, the second to head towards Australia, was at the lower band of about 15,000 feet.



Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth said the airline would also stop flights to Perth.

"Perth looks like there will be flights cancelled from around midday," Ms Wirth told ABC Radio.

She said passengers booked on flights to Perth this morning would be fine to travel.

Ms Wirth said some pilots had observed volcanic ash outside the designated areas, which is why the airline had decided to suspend flights to areas affected by the ash cloud altogether rather than flying around or below the plume.

8.50am: American Idol star Carrie Underwood, currently in Australia, was forced to take the bus from Melbourne to Sydney after being caught in the ash-cloud travel chaos, the Daily Telegraph reports.



7.31am Australia's airlines will resume their flights into Adelaide today as ash from the Chile volcano continues to diffuse. Qantas, Jetstar and Tiger Airways say they'll be back flying all their mainland services including Adelaide where flights were cancelled yesterday because of the ash. However Tasmania, the Trans-Tasman route and all domestic flights in New Zealand remain cancelled with the airlines to reassess the situation this morning. Virgin has continued flying during the crisis, altering their flight paths to avoid the ash cloud.

7.30am

"Qantas will continue to monitor the movement of the ash cloud and assess its impact on flight operations as the situation develops," the airline said.

"Safety is always put before schedule," it added in a statement.



7.28am The eruption of the Puyehue volcano in southern Chile's Andes mountains is now in its second week, disrupting air travel on a scale unseen since the volcanic cloud over Iceland paralysed Europe in 2010. Flights were again suspended in Argentina, Uruguay and, half a world away, in Australia.



7.26am An Ethiopian Airlines spokesman said an East African volcanic ash cloud disrupted several flights today, and an Ethiopian scientific official said the cloud has reached as far as southern Egypt and Sudan. The large plume of volcanic ash could reach Australia within days.



TUESDAY



11.19pm (After the 10pm assessment):

Qantashas confirmed flights to Adelaide will recommence tomorrow, but flights to New Zealand are cancelled until noon (AEST) and flights to Tasmania are cancelled until 11am (AEST).

Jetstar has confirmed Australian domestic flights will recommence but flights to Tasmania and New Zealand remain cancelled.

Tigermaintains all services will fly as normal excepting the Melbourne - Hobart - Melbourne service.

8.24pm Tiger Airways will resume all flights tomorrow, except for the Melbourne - Hobart - Melbourne service. There will be an update on service at 10pm tonight.

For more details visit the Tiger website.

6.58pm Qantas will resume flights to Adelaide tomorrow, but flights to and from New Zealand have been cancelled until noon (AEST) tomorrow, and flights to and from Adelaide cancelled until 11am (AEST), pending further assessment. Flights to and from Buenos Aires tomorrow are under review.

For more details visit the Qantas website.

6.32pm It could take a week for some Tasmanians to get home as frustrated travellers scramble to get on ferry services and flights from the mainland. Spirit of Tasmania ferry services from Victoria to Tasmania have sold out until Saturday even after it opened up cinema seats, adding an extra 110 spots each day.

After her Melbourne-Hobart Jetstar flight was cancelled today, Deb Oliver was told the earliest available flight would be on June 22. Virgin's Melbourne-Hobart flights have sold out until Monday. Ms Oliver said another 15 of her family and friends had already been stranded in Melbourne and were frantically looking for options:

They're even trying to get a private charter to fly home, that's how desperate they are.

5.40pm Perth could be the next city to be hit by ash from the volcano eruption in Chile while things are looking up for Adelaide and Tasmania, The Australian reported.



The Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre has revealed it is closely watching a cloud in an area to the west of Perth from a second eruption.

5.05pm The fallout from flight cancellations caused by a volcanic ash cloud will hit Tasmanian businesses hard, the State's Chamber of Commerce has said.

Qantas, Jetstar and Tiger cancelled all flights to and from Tasmania for the third consecutive day, while Virgin resumed normal services but quickly sold out all of its flights from Hobart until Friday, and all Melbourne to Hobart flights until next Monday.

Robert Wallace, from the Tasmania Chamber of Commerce and Industry, warned the full cost of the delays won't be known for some time with the main concern being businesses with staff who've been unable to return to work.

3.30pm First world airports should put aside a small amount of real estate to use as an overflow room when travel chaos strikes, The Punch argues today.

2.42pm Jetstar has now confirmed flights to and from Adelaide, Tasmania and New Zealand are cancelled for the rest of today.

2.40pm This amazing picture taken when the Puyehue volcano in Chile first began erupting shows a grounded at the San Carlos de Bariloche airport, southern Argentina.

2.25pm Tasmanian senator Guy Barnett has managed to fly his family to Canberra on a VIP RAAF flight amid the volcanic ash chaos. The Mercury reports.











12.42pm Qantas has cancelled Adelaide flights for the rest of the day, Sky News reports.

11.10am Weather forecasters say volcanic ash playing havoc with flights in parts of Australia will continue to linger for some time yet.



Since Chile's Puyehue volcano erupted recently a plume of ash has been made its way across the Atlantic and Indian oceans before reaching Australian air space.



Supervising meteorologist at the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in Darwin, Gordon Jackson, said the ash currently over Adelaide was not expected to clear for another 24 hours.



He said it would be a couple of days before the debris between Australia and New Zealand cleared.



"There is still quite a bit of ash between us and New Zealand and we have to keep monitoring that," Mr Jackson said.



Mr Jackson said there was also a new cloud coming from the eruption being monitored that may affect Perth in the next 48 to 72 hours.

The Puyehue volcano in Chile continues to erupt today as the ash cloud saga drags on.

9.51am Qantas has cancelled the entire day's flights to and from New Zealand and Tasmania due to the volcanic cloud over parts of Australia.

The airline updated information to passengers today, saying conditions from the volcanic plume meant it would not risk travelling today out of New Zealand or Tasmania, and flights to and from Adelaide would be cancelled until 1pm (AEST).



After 1pm, flights into and out of Adelaide will be reviewed.



"Obviously the worst consequences getting into an aircraft engine is that flight safety is compromised because the engine fails or there is a range of other things that can result," said Qantas spokesman Tom Woodward.



"We have a safety-first approach we don't apologise for but we obviously regret the inconvenience and understand people's frustration."



9.16am Regional and international airlines are still flying in and out of Adelaide but Qantas, Jetstar and Tiger Airways have cancelled flights due to a volcanic plume erupting from a South American volcano.



Airlines are making different decisions on how to deal with ash from Chile's Puyehue volcano, which has drifted across the Pacific into Australian and New Zealand airspace.



Qantas, Jetstar and Tiger Airways today cancelled flights to and from Adelaide, with the situation to be reviewed later in the morning.



But the airport's website shows most flights are operating, including Virgin, Singapore Airlines, Rex, Sharp Airlines and Malaysia Airlines.



8.36am Passengers are finding innovative ways to get home.

A Sydney man who was driving home from Melbourne sold seats in his BMW to stranded passengers for $150 each.

A Melbourne taxi driver hit the jackpot on Sunday night when three men stranded by the volcanic ash cloud paid him $1200 to drive them to Sydney.

Last night an RAAF aircraft flew trapped Tasmanian MPs and senators to Canberra for the sitting of Federal Parliament.

NRL referees for last night's clash between Melbourne Storm and Sydney Roosters at AAMI Park had to fly from Sydney to Albury before driving 320km to Melbourne.

Qantas brought in a Boeing 747 jumbo jet to operate three services carrying more than 1000 people between Sydney and Melbourne as it attempted to clear some of its massive backlog at Melbourne Airport.

7.32am Qantas and Jetstar have suspended all flights to and from Adelaide while services to and from Tasmania and New Zealand remain suspended.

The domestic services have been suspended until 10am, when Qantas will make a decision about whether they can be recommenced. A decision on services to New Zealand will be made at noon.

Tiger Airways has also cancelled some services.

6am Virgin Australia is expected to operate normal scheduled services again today.

"The majority of guests whose travel plans were disrupted during the past 48 hours have been provided alternative flights, with a small backlog of remaining guests expected to be provided alternative flights today." "Additional flights will be implemented between Sydney and Melbourne and Melbourne and Hobart to carry impacted guests." - Virgin Australia

5am: Time for a morning update of the flight chaos.

The Volcanic Ash Adsvisory Centre warned airspace over Tasmania, Melbourne, Adelaide and New Zealand has been affected.

Large amounts of ash will cover Tasmania as well as Adelaide and large parts of South Australia today, and may stay for several days.

Passengers are being told to get to their destinations as soon as possible before ash hits the eastern seaboard.

A total of 41,000 passengers have been stranded by 283 cancelled Qantas, Jeststar, Tiger and Virgin Australia flights.

4amRival airlines have slammed the decision by Qantas to cancel flights and labelled the tactic a PR stunt aimed at boosting the beleaguered company's public image.

Virgin, Emirates, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines are privately fuming at the Qantas decision.

"The worst possible result of volcanic ash in airspace would be the loss of an aircraft and lives," Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said.

"It is simply not worth the risk, and that's why we put safety before schedule."

After cancelling all flights in Melbourne yesterday, Qantas announced shortly after midday it was recommencing all domestic flights to and from Melbourne from 1pm. The airline said 20,000 passengers and 100 flights had been affected over the weekend.

Industry experts told The Daily Telegraph Qantas was losing $4 million every day they cancelled flights. Qantas was the only major airline to continue to ground flights.

"At the moment there are no particles in any airspace where we're flying and our pilots are even reporting in and telling us their space is clear," one airline told The Daily Telegraph.

Virgin resumed flights out of Melbourne, Tasmania and New Zealand from 7am after ordering pilots to fly under the 8500m high ash cloud.

Satellite images show the extent of the ash circling the Earth's atmosphere. See below.

