Poor visibility caused by a cloud of volcanic ash over Puerto Rico forced several-dozen flight cancellations Tuesday and some rerouting of planes to St. Thomas’ Cyril E. King Airport, according to local officials.
Four American Eagle flights destined for Puerto Rico were rerouted to St. Thomas and stayed overnight Tuesday before flying out for San Juan early Wednesday, said Monifa Marrero, spokeswoman for the V.I. Port Authority.
It doesn’t appear that the ash affected V.I. flights, but several online news sites reported the cancellations from Puerto Rico, saying that about 45 flights — mostly JetBlue, AirTran Airways, American Eagle and Continental planes — were affected, unable to either leave or come into Puerto Rico.
A Puerto Rican Port Authority spokeswoman, quoted in a report on caribbeanbusinesspr.com, said the volcanic ash was from the Soufriere Hills volcano on Montserrat and was hovering over the nearby territory, settling at 10,000 feet.
She said in the report that operations at Puerto Rico’s airports should return to normal Wednesday.