Volcano effect: Govt. advises passengers to defer travel to Europe

New Delhi, Apr 20 (ANI): The Civil Aviation Ministry has advised passengers to defer travel to European destinations as volcanic plumes continued to disrupt flights for the sixth day on Tuesday.

The advisory by the Civil Aviation Ministry came as over 41,000 passengers have been stranded following cancellation of the flights to Europe and western countries.

Civil Aviation Secretary M Madhavan Nambiar said 41,435 outbound passengers in Delhi and Mumbai were affected by the situation.

"Civil Aviation Ministry has set up a control room, headed by a Joint Secretary, with officials from Ministry of External Affairs and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to help those stranded in India," he added.

Air India and Jet Airways operated flights to the US and Canada taking alternative routes to avoid the affected airspace.

Meanwhile, Air India and Jet Airways operated flights to the US and Canada taking alternative routes to avoid the affected airspace.

Jet Airways has also started its Delhi-Toronto and Mumbai-New York flights with a stop-over at Athens in Greece.

Air operators are continuously in touch with various foreign missions in India to take care of the stranded passengers from those countries.

Though air operators provided accommodation and other facilities to hundreds of stranded passengers for last couple of days, but now they finding it difficult to continue the facility any longer.(ANI)