Volcanos

Alaska Airlines said it cancelled 19 flights due to the eruption of the Mount Redoubt volcano near Anchorage.

Nineteen flights into Anchorage and flights out of the city were canceled “as a safety precaution related to the pattern of ash at altitude created by the eruption of Mount Redoubt,” the airline said.

Alaska Airlines, a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) of Seattle, operates up to 50 flights a day in to Anchorage.

“We recognize these cancellations will significantly impact our customers intending to travel to or from Alaska,” said Ben Minicucci, COO and vice president of operations for Alaska

The 1,117-metre Mount Sakurajima near Kagoshima city belched lava seven times from 5.22am (4.22am, Singapore time on Tuesday) and ejected cinders that were found nearly two kilometres from the crater, an agency official said.

'It's possible that the volcano will step up activity, and we have issued a warning to residents living nearby,' he told AFP.

The volcano, about 950km southwest of Tokyo, continued to spout fumes, although they were down from an earlier high of 1,200m.

The volcano last erupted in February, and the agency earlier this month boosted the alert level by a notch. -- AFP