Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Ash cloud closes Argentina airport again

Updated at 9:33 pm on 17 January 2012

A cloud of ash caused by a volcano in Chile has closed an airport in neighbouring Argentina, just days after it had re-opened.

Commercial flights to Bariloche had resumed on Friday for the first time since the Puyehue volcano erupted on 5 June last year.

But airlines were forced to cancelled all flights flying in and out of the town in Patagonia on Monday, the BBC reports.

Bariloche and other towns nearby have seen visitor numbers drop sharply since the volcano began erupting. They are popular destinations for people wanting to ski in winter, and go trekking and fishing in summer.

Australian carrier Qantas and some other airlines cancelled all flights to and from Christchurch, Queenstown and Wellington in New Zealand last year due to problems with a volcanic ash cloud from Chile.

Copyright © 2012, Radio New Zealand