The International Air Transport Association said the decision regulators took to close airports without adequate consultation was costing airlines $218 million a day.

"We are far enough into this crisis to express our dissatisfaction on how governments have managed it - with no risk assessment, no consultation, no co-ordination, and no leadership," IATA chief Giovanni Bisignani declared.

His remarks came as European transport ministers began emergency talks to try to resolve the five-day shutdown that's grounded hundreds of planes, stranded 6.8 million passengers and closed more than 20 airports across Europe and disrupted services from 300 other centres worldwide.

he EU transport ministers' conference, hosted by Spain, is set to consider a proposal that passengers stranded in the US or Asia might fly into Spain and then continue their journey by train, boat or bus.

2The aviation industry - airlines, airports, supplier organisations, freight operators and ground-handling businesses - are reportedly facing losses far worse than those after the 2001 terrorist attacks, with an enormous shroud of fine mineral dust particles from Iceland's erupting Eyjafjallajokull volcano hanging over Europe.

The flight bans came amid fears the ash - a mixture of glass, sand and rock particles - can seriously damage aircraft engines.

Weather reports last night said the cloud now stretches from the Arctic Circle to the French Mediterranean coast and from Spain into Russia.

Qantas has 12,000 passengers on standby waiting for flights to London and Frankfurt, including 500 who the airline has put up in hotels in Singapore.

The carrier's losses and costs so far are running at $1.5 million a day.

British Airways is losing $39.83 million revenue a day and Emirates says the crisis has so far cost it $54.45 million.

Airline stocks have slumped on global markets. Qantas slid 6 to $2.92 yesterday.

Peter Harbison, head of the Asia Pacific Aviation Centre in Sydney, estimates the shutdown has cost airlines $1 billion - a sum he believes could double before planes return to the skies over Europe.

At this stage no one knows or is prepared to guess when services will resume.

Yesterday German carriers Lufthansa and Air Berlin and French conglomerate Air France-KLM were lobbying their governments to re-open the skies, arguing that flight tests they did at the weekend showed "no anomalies".

The Association of European Airlines, which represents 36 carriers, said it wanted an "immediate" assessment of the airspace restrictions.