Stranded travellers are piling into buses, trains and high-priced taxis in a frantic scramble to accomplish an increasingly tricky mission: Escape from Europe.

The eruption is unlikely to have inflicted significant financial pain on Air NZ, analysts say.

NZ passengers trying to fly to Europe are expected to be stranded here for at least two weeks.

The impact of Iceland's erupting volcano should make us ponder the very nature of how we have organised the way we live now, writes Hamish McRae.

Air traffic could return to half its normal level in Europe if clouds dissipate overnight, EU officials have said.

Britain is bracing for what scientists warn could be weeks of disruption from the volcanic dust cloud blanketing Europe.

More than 2000 passengers are stuck in NZ as airports remain closed until at least 7am tomorrow.

UK airspace will remain closed until tomorrow morning, a shutdown which is costing the air industry an estimated $282 million a day.

The Governor-General has been forced to cancel plans to attend the late Polish President's funeral.

Enhanced engine technology has magnified the risk of fatal damage to aircraft flying into volcanic ash clouds, writes Mathew Dearnaley.

Kiwis travelling to the London Book Fair next week have been scattered and stranded all over the globe with volcanic ash continuing to disrupt flights across Europe.

The body of a veteran climber who fell 450 metres into the crater atop the Mount St Helens volcano was recovered today.

Lava flowing from a volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo is threatening a population of endangered chimpanzees.

Volatile Mt Yasur gives John McCrystal a close encounter with an active volcano.