The Sofia airport might close completely, for at least several hours Sunday, as cancellations continue pouring in over the volcanic ash cloud drifting throughout Europe, airport management informs.

Bulgaria’s Air Traffic Directorate reports in a press release to the media Saturday that the country’s airspace remains open.

The directorate, however, points out that they are monitoring the situation closely and the movement of the ash cloud and might decide to stop all flights.

Most flights to and from Sofia were canceled Saturday. The only flights that took off from Sofia on Saturday are to Madrid, Rome, Athens, and Moscow. The flights Sofia-Barcelona at 4:50 pm and Sofia-Valencia at 5:00 have not been canceled and took off as scheduled. The same goes for the two Bulgaria Air charter flights to Cairo, Egypt, scheduled to take off at 17:30 and 17:40.

Only 5 flights landed in Sofia Saturday – from Athens, Varna, Moscow, Madrid and Rome.

The Sofia Airport has already received information that flights scheduled for Sunday morning, April 18, are canceled, which has made the authorities considering a move towards shutting the airport completely.

Meanwhile, airport officials told Novinite.com that there are reported problems with huge crowds of people or long lines. The only travelers currently at the terminal are those coming to reschedule their flights because people already know the news about the volcanic ash cloud over Europe and are checking the status of their flights online or one the phone.

Virtually all of Europe's major airports remain closed and millions of air travelers are stranded as thousands of flights are being cancelled for a third day. The mayhem is caused by a huge volcanic ash cloud drifting south and east across the continent from Iceland. The ash - a mixture of glass, sand and rock particles ould be catastrophic to aircraft.

The disruptions began Wednesday when the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano erupted for the second time in a month and will continue for certain at least through the entire weekend while Airlines are losing USD 200 M a day.

All major airports in Europe, including the 3 busiest - Heathrow, Frankfurt and Charles de Gaulle, have been affected by the closures. The travel chaos has been felt as far away as North America and Asia, with the cancellation of dozens of Europe-bound flights.

Information about the departures and arrivals is available at the Sofia Airport website HERE.

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