MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Volcanic ash again cancels hundreds of flights in the Southern Cone

Aircraft covered with a film of the ash grounded in regional airports

Clouds of ash spewing from Chile's Puyehue volcano again grounded flights at airports in Uruguay and Argentina, where a major football tournament is being held. Scores of local and international flights were delayed or cancelled in and out of Buenos Aires, regional airport authority Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 said on its website on Friday.

The Puyehue has been causing air travel mayhem since it rumbled back to life on June 4 for the first time in five decades, belching into the air an untold volume of dust and ash.

Flights across South America, including hubs in Montevideo, Chile's capital city Santiago and southern Brazil, have been hit hard as ash clouds swept around the southern hemisphere to linger over Australia, New Zealand and even South Africa.

The latest flight disruptions wreaked havoc for football fans arriving in Argentina for the July 1-24 Copa America competition, which has been drawing thousands of supporters. The regional tournament is being played in several Argentine cities.

In Montevideo, at least 35 departures and 31 arrivals were cancelled due to the ash clouds, Carrasco International Airport officials said. Most of the flights were to or from Buenos Aires, but departures for places like Lima and Porto Alegre in Brazil were also delayed.

The volcano is still spewing out a two-kilometre high column of ash, less than its 12 kilometres at the height of the eruption, Chile's national geology and mines service said.

The Chilean weather bureau said the wind could continue to blow the ash cloud toward Argentina for the rest of the weekend.

“It seems that the volcanic ash cloud will head southeast and only hit Argentine territory,” a spokesman said. “The eruptions are likely to continue and it is possible that activity will increase so the volcanic alert level remains on red” for a minor eruption, he added.

Provinces in south-western Argentina, including Rio Negro and Neuquen, are in a state of emergency due to widespread damage caused by a massive layer of volcanic ash from the Puyehue.

The Puyehue volcano is high in the Andes cordillera, 870 kilometres south of Santiago close to the border with Argentina and 100 kilometres from Bariloche, Argentina’s main winter snow resort that fears a catastrophic season.