Volcanic Ash Grounds NZ, Australian Flights

Flights in New Zealand and Australian were canceled over the weekend after ash from a Chilean volcano made flying in the southern parts of the countries too hazardous.

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Volcanic Ash Grounds NZ, Australian Flights — The image shows the ash plume over southern Australia and the Tasman Sea (Courtesy Jeff Schmaltz/NASA Images)

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/Tasmania_amo_2011164.jpg" alt="The image shows the ash plume over southern Australia and the Tasman Sea (Courtesy Jeff Schmaltz/NASA Images)" title="The image shows the ash plume over southern Australia and the Tasman Sea (Courtesy Jeff Schmaltz/NASA Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1802820"/></a>

The image shows the ash plume over southern Australia and the Tasman Sea (Courtesy Jeff Schmaltz/NASA Images)

Flights in New Zealand and Australia were canceled over the weekend after ash from a Chilean volcano made flying in the southern parts of the countries too hazardous, according to media reports.

The Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcano in central Chile has been erupting since June 4 and had already grounded flights in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.

Australian carrier Qantas canceled over 100 domestic and international flights and said it would reconsider the situation Monday afternoon local time, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Budget carrier Jetstar also canceled flights, with both carriers stranding passengers at Auckland Airport, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Air New Zealand has been rerouting flights and flying at lower altitudes to avoid canceling flights, according to the report.

The last time the volcano erupted was in 1990.

Volcanic ash can be very hazardous to airlplane engines. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology explained that volcanic ash, which is made of pulverized rock and gases, melts in the hot engines and then forms a “glass-like coating on components further back in the engine, causing loss of thrust and possible ‘flame out’ (engine failure),” among other things.