MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

River Plate airports with no air traffic until Tuesday morning

Carrasco waiting for a strong wind to clear the sky

A remnant of volcanic ashes spewed by the Chilean volcano Puyehue over a week ago and which continues to hover over the River Plate again interrupted Monday activities in the three main airports, Carrasco in Montevideo and Ezeiza and Aeroparque in the city of Buenos Aires.

“Ashes will remain in suspension until at least early Tuesday with diminishing density so flights should begin to normalize Tuesday morning” said Laura Vanoli in charge of the Aeronautical meteorological office in Montevideo, based on the latest reports from the main station in Buenos Aires.

According to airline traffic, until 18:00 hours Monday no inbound or outbound flights were reported in Carrasco. Companies are expected to begin deciding later in the evening how they will organize the backlog.

Uruguay’s Meteorological Service reported a yellow alert since early Monday because of the ash cloud which covers most of the Uruguayan territory.

In Buenos Aires airlines cancelled all flights at Ezeiza international airport and at the Metropolitan domestic flights air terminal according to a release from Argentina’s National Civil Aviation Administration, ANAC.

In a release ANAC decided to limit air operations since “met conditions again worsened” in central Argentina, because of the volcanic ash cloud.

Aerolineas Argentinas and Austral, Argentina’s main airlines announced the cancelling all flights Monday until further notice.

Those airlines with flights en route had to be redirected to alternative airports, said the companies.

“The rest of the programmed flights for Monday and early Tuesday are on hold conditioned to meteorological conditions and the evolution of the ash cloud”, added the release.

Meantime the main Argentine Patagonia airports, the worst hit by the ash cloud remain closed to all air traffic.

Sunday and Monday’s disruptions included an illustrious visitor Ban Ki-moon and the UN delegation on a South American tour. However his delegation landed in an alternative airport and travelled to Buenos Aires on a coach.

There are also concerns that hopefully the first of two matches for the final of the South American Libertadores Cup can be played on Wednesday in Montevideo. The local team is Peñarol but rival Santos from Brazil is scheduled to fly in, if the ash cloud is willing to let them through.