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Airservices Australia's Matt Wardell said the situation was being reviewed on an hour-by-hour basis
Airlines including Qantas, Jetstar and Tiger suspended their flights to and from various parts of the region.Strong winds have carried the fine particles of ash from the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano in Chile to southern New Zealand and Australia.
The particles have the potential to seriously damage jet engines.
New Zealand's national carrier, Air New Zealand also issued a warning that it may be forced to ground some flights if the situation worsens.
"We may well be affected later on today and tomorrow because if we can't exit or operate across the Tasman Sea and get to 20,000 feet before we enter into controlled air space then we will have issues in the next few days," said the airline's chief pilot David Morgan.
'Precautionary measure'
The volcanic eruption also forced the cancellation of several flights in and out of Uruguay.
Copa and American Airlines both cancelled flights into the Uruguayan capital after authorities said they expected ash from the volcano to affect Uruguay's air space. Analysts said airlines are not very sure of the impact that the ash will have on their planes and that is only making things worse for them.
"The problem is that there is a lot of speculation about the actual impact of the ash," said Siva Govindasamy of Flight Global.
"That is a big worry for the airlines and as a result they are cancelling flights as a precautionary measure," he added.
Mr Govindasamy said that until there was clarity about this, airlines would keep cancelling flights to keep both their passengers and aircraft safe.
Tough times Airlines in the region have been through some tough times since the start of this year.
Natural disasters in Australia, New Zealand and Japan have seen demand for air travel in the region suffer.
Australia's national carrier, Qantas, has already issued a profit warning saying the disasters will cost the company $140m (£87m).
Analysts said the current disruption will compound their problems even further.
"These are lucrative markets, if they continue to be affected it will dent the earnings," said Mr Govindasamy.
"I think this is just going add more to their woes," he added.
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