Qantas, Air Zealand to operate most flights on Friday as ash clears

Qantas Airways Ltd and Air New Zealand Ltd expect to operate most flights across the Tasman Sea on Friday as a cloud of volcanic ash that has disrupted services for five days disperses.

Qantas will operate most flights to New Zealand, according to an 8 pm statement on its website. There may be delays. Budget arm Jetstar also will resume operations on New Zealand routes. Air NZ plans to fly a full timetable tomorrow except for Queenstown, where flights are halted until noon.

The airlines have started clearing a backlog of passengers caused by flight cancellations following the June 4 eruption in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic complex in southern Chile, which disrupted travel around the Southern Hemisphere. The ash also endangered crops and livestock in Argentina, prompting the government yesterday to declare an agricultural emergency.

The Chile volcanic complex remains active as authorities observed an average of four temblors an hour and an ash cloud as wide as three miles blowing in an east-southeasterly direction, the nation’s geological and mining authority, known as Sernageomin, said in a statement on its website on Wednesday.

In Argentina, Buenos Aires flights likely will operate as normal today following shutdowns earlier this week, an Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 official said.

Ash in the country is destroying fodder, which will cut sheep numbers and reduce wool quality, Edgar Contin, vice president of the Rural Federation Society of Rio Negro, said by phone yesterday. Ash accumulated on sheep’s coats is also weighing them down, causing them to fall over when they run, he said. Farmers then have to help them get up again, he said.

It’s too early to calculate losses among the 300,000 sheep and 30,000 head of cattle in Rio Negro, Contin said. Parts of the province are covered by 20 centimetres (8 inches) of ash, he said.

Argentina declared an agriculture emergency in the southern provinces of Rio Negro, Chubut and Neuquen, entitling farmers to financial aid.