Kenyan minister stranded in London

Cabinet minister Charity Ngilu is among thousands of passengers stranded in London as volcanic ash clouds disrupted Europe flights for the third day.

The minister said she had boarded a flight from Spain on Thursday but on arrival in London, she was informed that all flights out of London had been cancelled.

"I was to board a connecting flight to Kenya from London but now I am stuck. The only other option is to take a bus back to Spain and hope to get a flight home from there," she said in a phone interview with the Nation on Saturday.

Large parts of Europe enforced no-fly rulings because of a huge ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano that has caused the worst air travel chaos since the September 11 attacks.

Kenya's flower industry on Friday indicated that it was running into losses worth an estimated $2 million (Sh150 million) as flights out of Nairobi remain grounded.

The Kenya Aviation Authority also noted that parking space was strained since passengers and cargo were stranded at the airport. However, hotels in the capital recorded an increase in bookings as guests sought accommodation to wait for new flights reschedule.

Disruption spread to Asia, where dozens of Europe-bound flights were cancelled and hotels from Beijing to Singapore strained to accommodate thousands of stranded passengers.

"Current forecasts show that the situation is worsening throughout Saturday," Britain's air traffic control said in a statement. A ban on air traffic over Britain was extended to at least 2400 GMT, including northern areas where restrictions had been eased.

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.

Airports in Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands remained closed and flights were set to be grounded in Hungary and parts of Romania. Ireland said its airspace would be closed until 1700 GMT.

The US military had to reroute many flights, including those evacuating the wounded from Afghanistan and Iraq, a Pentagon spokesman said.