Argentina, Uruguay halt flights

ARGENTINA and Uruguay both suspended flights at major airports on Sunday and Monday due to dangerous ash from neighboring Chile's Puyehue volcano, which has disrupted global travel since it erupted earlier this year, AFP reports. Authorities suspended or cancelled numerous international flights serving the United States, Peru and Brazil at the Ezeiza airport south of the capital, hours after shutting off Jorge Newbery airport in Buenos Aires. The city's other major airport, Ezeiza, in the southern suburbs, was however still open for international flights, the official said. In Uruguay, 15 international flights were cancelled at Montevideo's international Carrasco airport, largely affecting flights to Chile and neighboring Argentina and Brazil.

Air traffic in the southern hemisphere has been hit hard in recent months. Airports in Buenos Aires and Montevideo and later those in Australia and New Zealand were paralyzed when the volcano high in the Andes roared back to life in June after sleeping dormant for half a century. Since June most airports in Argentina have been forced into shutdowns at some point due to dangerous ash threatening the safety of commercial airliners. The ash cloud also dampened hopes of a good tourist season at the Argentine ski resort of Bariloche, some 1,600 kilometres southwest of Buenos Aires and just 100 kilometres southeast of Puyehue, as flights were cancelled and snow was darkened by the spewing volcano.