Chile ash cloud hits New Zealand, Australia flights
Baku, June 13 (AZERTAC). A cloud of ash from an erupting volcano in Chile disrupted air travel in New Zealand and Australia for a second day on Monday, causing scores of flights to be cancelled and grounding thousands of travelers.
Flights between New Zealand and Australia, and some domestic routes in both countries, were hit as the cloud, which has traveled some 10,000 km (6,000 miles) across the Atlantic and Indian oceans, drifted over their southern air space.
Air New Zealand kept in the air by rerouting flights and flying at lower altitudes to avoid the ash, but was monitoring developments closely.
"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 Air NZ chief pilot David Morgan.
Air NZ flights have been operating at around 18,000 feet (5,800 metres) although it is more costly in fuel consumption.
The volcano in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle chain in Chile has been erupting for the past week, throwing South American air travel into chaos as it spews ash high into the atmosphere.
In neighboring Argentina, where the ash has closed roads and blanketed Patagonian grazing pastures and a ski resort, state-run Aeroline as Argentines said it had cancelled local and international flights again late on Sunday.
Chile`s LAN halted all services to and from Buenos Aires, saying it was "constantly monitoring the weather conditions."
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