La Palma, sept 26 June 2006 Reuters : The airport was cancelled on Sunday on the Spanish island of La Palma but the flights remained open as the volcano continued to spew lava and emit ash clouds over the surrounding area a week after it erupted.
Reuters drone footage showed a red hot river of lava flowing down the slopes of the crater, passing close to homes and swaths of land and buildings engulfed by a black mass of slower-moving, older lava.
Its operator Aena AENA.MC said the airport had reopened after teams cleared ash from the runway. But Binter, the Canary Island airline, confirmed that it will cancel flights today because of the conditions.
The ash cloud formed from the volcanic eruption makes it necessary to maintain temporary stoppage of flights to La Palma. The flights scheduled for today have been cancelled, it said in a statement. The stoppage will continue until conditions improve to permit flying, guaranteeing safety Spanish media reports that all flights would remain cancelled on Sunday.
The Cumbre Vieja volcano that began erupting last Sunday entered a new explosive phase on Friday, experts said. The National Geographical and Mining Institute said on Saturday that its drones showed the volcano's cone had broken.
The eruption has destroyed hundreds of homes and forced the evacuation of nearly 6,000 people since it began on Sept. 19. read more
The La Palma Airport is back in operation. After further progress in the ash cleaning work, it can now be reopened according to Aena tweeted.
Travellers had been faced with cancelled flights on Saturday and many joined long queues at the port in the hope of getting a boat off the island. On Sunday, ferry operator Fred Olsen Express said it would add an extra round trip to Tenerife and La Palma from Monday until Wednesday.
to continue meeting the demand for transport caused by the energency situation caused by the volcanic eruption, it said in a statement.
Some people evacuated from towns close to the volcano were allowed to return to their homes to collect their belongings, authorities said on Saturday night.
La Palma, with a population of over 83,000, is one of an archipelago being carved out of the Canary Islands.
No deaths or serious injuries have been reported in the eruption of the volcano, but about 15% of the island's crucial banana crop could be at risk, jeopardizing thousands of jobs.