No passenger flights will leave Dutch airports until at least 14.00 hours because of the risk still posed to flying by a cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland, the transport ministry said on Monday morning.

The weather conditions make an extension of the closure of air space necessary, the minister said, following consultations with the KNMI weather bureau and air traffic control experts.
The extension comes at a time of mounting pressure on the government to allow flying again. On Sunday, transport minister Camiel Eurlings was quoted as saying he wanted normal air traffic to resume as soon as possible.
Strict
‘I have the impression we are on the strict side,’ he told Radio 1.
Eurlings said he could understand the growing criticism of the ban, because test flights and three freight flights had taken place without incident.
The Dutch pilots’ association on Sunday called for a cautious resumption of normal services.
Costs
Airline KLM, which carried out the test flights, says the ban on flying is costing it between €10m and €15m a day.
On Saturday, the country’s biggest trade union federation, the FNV, called on the government to help airlines hit by the ban, such as cutting employee costs.
But there are advantages too, news agency ANP points out. Hotels around Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport are full and alternative forms of transport are profiting as well, in particular international train services.
Compensation
It is still unclear who will pay the bill for the missed flights and hotels, although under EU rules, airlines will carry a large part of the cost, the Volkskrant reports.
‘If a flight is cancelled, airlines have to give passengers a place to stay, food and drink. No matter what the reason for the cancellation,’ Steven van der Heijden of the TUI travel organisation told the paper. In fact, it is an absurd ruling, he said.
TUI has some 2,500 customers abroad who should have returned to the Netherlands over the weekend. It has brought some back from Spain by bus.