Canaries airspace open despite volcano eruption, few flights cancelled

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's civil air authority Enaire said on Monday that the airspace above the Canary Islands was open despite a volcanic eruption, while only a few flights were cancelled by a local airline.

The archipelago's local airline Binter cancelled four flights on Monday, but it scheduled other flights for later in the day.

The airline, which had released footage of the smoke and ash plume on Sunday afternoon, said the cancellations were a consequence of the eruption.

It said on its Twitter account that flights to and from La Gomera would resume later on Monday, though it warned of possible delays. Its call centre was offering tickets for flights to La Palma and La Gomera for the afternoon.

Enaire has maintained the airspace open and said there were no restrictions on travelling to La Gomera or La Palma early on Monday.

"There is no problem of visibility", an Enaire source added, saying it was up to airlines to decide if they wanted to change their plans.

(Reporting by Inti Landauro and Corina Pons, Writing by Corina Pons, Editing by Nathan Allen and Ingrid Melander)