Up to 200 people booked on Regional Express (REX) and QANTAS Link flights were grounded in Dubbo, manager of airport operations Lindsay Mason said, with further delays expected for the rest of the week.

The flight path from Broken Hill to Dubbo was also clouded by ash yesterday afternoon, which meant one flight destined for Dubbo had to be “turned around”.

“It could be a few days or up to a week to clear the backlog,” Mr Mason told the Daily Liberal yesterday.

“You’re looking at a couple of hundred people who have to get on to alternate flights and then there’s the people who were originally booked on flights for tomorrow and the next day who’ll be delayed also.”

The mass delays and cancellations in major Australian cities began last week, after smoke and debris from Chile’s Mount Puyehue Cordon Caulle volcano filtered across the east coast of Australia.

Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth airports have all since been affected.

The last flight to leave Dubbo airport flew out at midday yesterday.

Zac Little, one of the grounded passengers, said he was “frustrated” but understood nothing could be done.

“I’m literally stuck,” he said.

“All the cars have been hired out. My friend who I was staying with has since left.”

Mr Little said he had not been offered accommodation in town because he was travelling on a discount fair.

Fellow passenger Danielle Flakelar said she was happy to be in Dubbo for another night.

“I was flying to Sydney for work, so I think it will be just a delay for me rather than a complete cancellation,” she said.

Mr Mason and Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the mass domestic and regional cancellations were an extremely rare occurance, but a necessity in this case.

“We’ve had situations in the past where planes have been delayed because of fog, but nothing like this for a long time,” Mr Mason said.

“Safety must be the number one priority,” Mr Albanese added.

Between the hours of midday and 4pm yesterday, the Dubbo airport manager fielded about 50 calls from concerned passengers.

“All we can say is be patient, stay in touch with airlines and expect delays for the next few days,” he said.

Flights are scheduled to resume from 9.30am today, but that is subject to change.