QCOSTARICA – 8:23am – The Juan Santamaria (SJO) airport continues closed this morning, the airport manager, Aeris, saying normal operations should be resumed by noon on Friday.
The closure that has been in effect since 4:00pm Thursday has resulted in the cancellation of more than a dozen flights inbound for Costa Rica and grounded a similar more at the San José airport.
Aeris spokeswoman, Silvia Chavez, confirmed that there will be an assessment of the runway before noon.
According to Chávez the runway was not useable following the downfall of ash from the Turriabla volcano eruptions Thursday. The volcano had a small eruption in the early hours of this morning Friday.
Ash can make the runway slippery and affect safe takeoff and arrival of aircraft. In addition, visibility on the runway has been low.
Industrial sweepers are being brought in to clean the runway of the ash.
