The plume of volcanic ash being spewed out of Iceland is continuing to cause problems for airlines. The cloud is now 1,400 miles from side to side and 2,100 miles long. Most of the ash is spread out over the North Atlantic and covers an area stretching from Greenland to Portugal.

In an attempt to avoid the volcanic cloud, a number of airlines have rerouted their transatlantic flights to the north and the south. However, this has started to cause some congestion as the routes are become clogged with traffic. The diversions have also added to passengers’ journey times.

In Europe, hundreds of flights have been cancelled. An offshoot of the ash cloud is currently making its way across the skies of northern Italy and southern France up through Germany and Austria. Although the disruption to flights has been nothing like as severe as it was last month when most of Europe’s airspace was closed, around 500 fewer planes flew on Sunday than is normal for the time of year.

Meteorologists are expecting the cloud to disperse quickly. They said that predicted rain showers would help to wash the ash out of the atmosphere. Eurocontrol, the agency in charge of coordinating Europe’s air traffic control, has advised airlines to carry more fuel than usual in case air traffic control has to guide them around any remaining ash.

The Irish Aviation Authority yesterday ordered that airports on the country’s west coast be closed. However, Cork, Shannon and Dublin were permitted to stay open.