Volcanic ash from an eruption in southern Chile increased flight cancellations across the region and prompted organizers of a summit of economy ministers and central bankers in Argentina to delay their gathering.
British Airways Plc., Aerolineas Argentinas SA and Lan Airlines SA (LAN), Latin America’s biggest operator by market value, all canceled departures out of Buenos Aires today, one day after about 150 flights to and from Argentina and Uruguay were scrubbed. Ashes, which can damage airplane engines, are spread through the first19,700 feet of the atmosphere, Argentina’s Transport Secretariat said in an e-mailed statement.
A gathering today of economy ministers and central bank chiefs from South America was canceled after a light coating of ash powdered Buenos Aires from the eruption of the Puyehue- Cordon Caulle volcanic complex in Chile that began June 4. Airspace across Argentina’s southern Patagonia region remains closed.
Runways at the two international airports in Buenos Aires were being cleaned last night to remove ash. In the southern ski resort town of Bariloche, waves of the dusty debris washed up along the shoreline of Lake Nahuel Huapi, part of the country’s oldest national park that stretches to the mountainous border with Chile.
As the volcano eruptions ease, the situation at the Buenos Aires airports may improve this afternoon, the Transport Secretariat said.
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