Volcanic activity on White Island was last night continuing to disrupt flights in and out of Tauranga.
An Air New Zealand spokesman said more than 20 Link flights were cancelled yesterday because of low cloud and volcanic ash deposits at Tauranga Airport.
Passengers were switched to buses.
All flights in or out of the airport had been put on hold until the prevailing wind direction changed, pushing the ash deposits away from Tauranga.
Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences duty volcanologist Brent Alloway said White Island was erupting a stream of gas that was sending fine ash up to 1000m before it was being blown to the mainland.
"This type of hazard is expected to occur periodically throughout the Bay of Plenty and East Cape areas, given the current level of eruptive activity."
Volcanology staff from the institute who visited the island last Wednesday found the eruption intensity had varied little since it began in early April.
Bad weather since Sunday had prevented satellite and direct visual observations of activity.
But the present activity did not appear to be an immediate hazard to visitors to White Island, Mr Alloway said.
"However, past activity indicates that significantly larger eruptions, some ejecting large rocks over the island, could occur with little or no warning.
"Caution should always be exercised when visiting the island."
- NZPA
White Island ash drift closes airport
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