Hundreds of Kiwis remained stranded overseas last night as a volcanic ash cloud closed airports across north and central Europe for a third day.

Air traffic control in Britain predicted the situation would get worse yesterday after 16,000 flights were cancelled on Friday.

Airports in the UK will remain closed until at least 6pm tonight (NZT) after aviation officials extended their no fly ban.

Paris airports and about two dozen others in northern France will remain closed until 6pm Monday.

Spain and the Netherlands are closed to all flights until further notice, while other air travel bans exist across much of Europe.

Airlines are losing an estimated $282 million a day.

London-bound Air New Zealand flights leaving Auckland last night were terminating at Los Angeles and Hong Kong.

NZHerald