UPDATE: Flights at Costa Rica’s Juan Santamaría airport cancelled due to volcano eruptions

UPDATE Friday, April 24, 2015 5:50 a.m.

Juan Santamaría International Airport reopened at 4 a.m. on Friday morning, according to daily La Nación. Flights were scheduled to arrive and depart normally, although cancellations and schedule changes prompted by yesterday’s eruptions at Turrialba Volcano will likely continue to cause problems for travellers.

Original post

Costa Rica’s Turrialba Volcano erupted several times on Thursday afternoon, causing 14 inbound flights and four outbound flights to be cancelled or delayed, an airport spokeswoman said.

The airport was set to reopen provisionally at 4:00 a.m. Friday.

Turrialba Volcano is located in the province of Cartago, some 67 kilometers northeast of the capital San José.

Eruptions closed down the airport last month for some 18 hours, stranding thousands of passengers.

Earlier this month, scientists with the University of Costa Rica’s National Seismological Network (RSN) said they believed they had found fresh cooled lava at Turrialba, which could indicate that the volcano has moved into a more active phase.

Still, other experts said it was too soon to tell.

Residents in San José and as far away as the town of Grecia, some 100 kilometers away, reported falling ash.

Read all our coverage of Turrialba’s recent activity