No Ryanair flights will operate from the UK until Thursday lunchtime at the earliest.
The no frills carrier extended the cancellation of Northern Europe flights from 13.00 today(Wednesday) to 13.00 tomorrow – seven days after flights were first grounded due to volcanic ash.
All flights between the UK and Ireland have been cancelled until Friday at 13.00 when a the airline hopes to resume a full schedule.
This will allow aircraft to be used to run additional services between the Continent and the UK and Ireland from Thursday.
The carrier is to suspend all airport check-in and baggage fees during an "initial period" after the full schedule resumes.
CEO Micheal O’Leary said: "We remain hopeful that changing winds and a better analysis of the extent of these volcanic ash clouds will allow Ryanair to operate a substantial proportion of our scheduled flight operations in Northern Europe from 13.00 on Thursday.
"We presently hope to resume our full scheduled flight operations by 13.00 on Friday and we have issued instructions to all our airports that our immediate priority will be to ensure that no seat operates empty while there are baglogs of disrupted passengers wishing to travel."
by Phil Davies
