Chile’s Volcano Ash Grounds Australia, New Zealand Flights

Ash from Chile's volcanic eruptions prompted Australian airlines to ground some domestic services and flights to New Zealand Sunday, stranding thousands of people after plumes drifted across the Pacific.

Strong winds have carried the ash clouds some 9,400 kilometers (5,800 miles) across the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand since Chile's Puyehue volcano erupted more than a week ago, and they are now entering Australian airspace.

National carrier Qantas cancelled all flights to and from the southeastern island of Tasmania and all flights to and from Christchurch, Queenstown and Wellington in neighboring New Zealand.

It later extended the groundings to all flights to and from the southern Australian city of Melbourne and those to and from New Zealand's Auckland from 6.00pm (0800 GMT) Sunday, affecting around 8,000 passengers in total.

No intercontinental flights were immediately hit as none were scheduled to land in Melbourne on Sunday evening.

"We believe that it's absolutely the right thing to ground these services. We will put them back up in the air as soon as possible but it's a safety first approach for our customers," Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth told ABC radio.

Qantas said it had taken the precautionary measure until it knew more about the density of the cloud and its possible impact on aircraft.

The airline's offshoot Jetstar has also grounded flights for Tasmania and New Zealand, as well as some flights within New Zealand. Rival Virgin Australia said some flights had been cancelled and it was monitoring the situation.

Air New Zealand has said it will adjust flight routes and altitudes to avoid the plumes, which New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority has warned will be at 20,000-30,000 feet, the cruising altitude for both jet and turboprop aircraft.

The authority said Saturday New Zealand airspace might be affected for at least a week, given that the volcano was still erupting.

With thousands of passengers stranded on both sides of the Tasman, Air Services Australia said the cloud had already reached Australian airspace and could affect air traffic for the next few days.