La Palma volcanic ash cloud disrupts Tenerife flights

Ash cloud from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on Spain's La Palma disrupted air traffic on the neighbouring island of Tenerife, airport operator Aena said on Friday, a day after it closed the La Palma airport.

Tenerife's northern airport remains open and planes can safely land and take off, but several flights were cancelled or diverted to the island's southern terminal, an Aena spokesperson told Reuters.

La Palma's airport will remain closed until 1 p.m. on Saturday at the earliest, she said. Local airline Binter Canarias said it had cancelled services to and from the northern airport on Friday and diverted a flight to the southern one.

The airport in La Palma closed for one day on Sept. 25 to allow workers to clear ash from the runway. The volcano has been blasting out jets of red-hot lava for more than two weeks, laying waste to hundreds of buildings and farms, and forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents.

A decade ago, most of Europe's airspace was closed due to an ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland, causing airlines billions of euros in lost revenue.