A volcanic ash cloud from Iceland forced the shutdown on Tuesday of four airports in the Canary islands and three in the south of mainland Spain, the Spanish air traffic control agency Aena said.
Both airports on Tenerife, plus those on La Palma and La Gomera, suspended operations at 4:00 am (0300 GMT), while those in Seville, Jerez and Badajoz shut down two hours later.
"We do not know when they could reopen," an Aena spokeswoman told AFP, a day after the drifting cloud of ash led to restrictions on flying through Spanish airspace, but no airport closures.
Eurocontrol had warned on Monday that "areas of higher ash concentration could move in a northeasterly direction from the Atlantic into the Iberian Peninsula," causing more travel headaches in Spain and Portugal.
About 500 fewer flights had been expected in European skies on Monday, Eurocontrol said, because of the ash drifting across the North Atlantic from the Eyjafjoell volcano.
Transatlantic flights meanwhile faced "significant re-reroutings" and delays.
Last month the same volcano in Iceland was responsible for the biggest-ever shutdown of European airspace to civilian air traffic since World War II.
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