Monday and Tuesday saw continued flight cancellations and delays at airports across the southern hemisphere.

Both of the major airports in Buenos Aires remained shut on Tuesday morning, while numerous flights in southern Australia and New Zealand were also grounded as the ash cloud from the Puyehue volcano in Chile continues to push across the South Pacific.

Melina Calva, spokeswoman for Aerpuertos Argentina 2000 SA, which operates both the Ezeiza and Aeroparque airports serving the Argentinean capital, said that conditions hadn’t improved despite optimistic forecasts and that flights would remain grounded even though there had been plans to reopen the city’s airports on Monday night. She added that the disruptions could soon expand into other South American nations.

Similarly, newspaper reports said that some 400 flights in nearby Montevideo Airport in Uruguay were also cancelled, affecting an estimated 15,000 passengers. According to Calva, it could take as long as week for airspace over the region to clear up.

Meanwhile Virgin Australia resumed all flights on Tuesday, opting to divert under and around the ash plume via information passed on by the country’s Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre whilst Qantas and Jetstar have held firm to the company’s policy of suspending operations with any sign of volcanic ash.