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France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Serbia, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Byelorussia are the countries affected for the fourth consecutive day.

AENA -the Spanish state owned company that owns and manages all Spanish airports- announced the closing of airspace route between Catalonia and Asturias regions due to the spread of volcanic ash in the atmosphere following a volcano eruption in Iceland.

Airports that have been closed are in Barcelona, Girona, Reus, Asturias, Santander, Bilbao, Donostia-San Sebastian, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Pamplona-Iruña and Logroño closing at 8.30 a.m. (1800 GMT) until 16.00 p.m. on Sunday because of volcanic ash in the atmosphere.

Air travel across much of Europe was paralyzed for a fourth day on Sunday because of a huge cloud of volcanic ash, but Dutch and German test flights carried out without apparent damage seemed to offer hope.

European aviation agency Eurocontrol said no landings or takeoffs had been possible for civilian aircraft in most of northern and central Europe on Saturday because of the ash spewed out by the Icelandic volcano, which was still erupting.

It expected 5,000 flights in European airspace on Saturday, compared with the usual 22,000. On Friday there were 10,400 flights compared with the usual 28,000, said the agency.

Many countries closed their airspaces until well into Sunday or Monday, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded worldwide, and weather experts said wind patterns meant the cloud was not likely to move far until later in the week.

They said the plume floating through the upper atmosphere from Iceland could become more concentrated on Tuesday and Wednesday, posing an even greater risk and threatening to compound airline losses running at more than $200 million a day.

The volcanic eruption appeared to be easing on Saturday but could go on for days or even months, officials said.

U.S.-based forecaster AccuWeather said the ash was in an area of weak wind flow and was unlikely to move far on Monday.

Britain, Germany and Denmark were among the countries to announce their airspaces were closed for the whole of Saturday. Early on Sunday, Britain and Germany extended their shutdowns until 1800 GMT.

France said Paris airports would be closed until at least Monday morning. Italy maintained a shutdown of its northern airports. The Netherlands and Switzerland extended their no-fly rulings until 1200 GMT on Sunday.

Bulgaria closed its airspace from 0600 GMT on Sunday due to the ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano, the transport ministry said. Late on Saturday Bulgaria partially closed its airspace and several airports, but the latest announcement now means all airports, including Sofia, are now shut.