Alaska Airlines flights resume

Alaska Airlines has resumed flights between the state of Alaska and the continental U.S. and is adding flights to help about 5,200 passengers affected by earlier cancellations in the past 24 hours.

The airline canceled flights between Alaska and several West Coast cities — including Seattle — because of a rising ash cloud from Kasatochi volcano that erupted Thursday in the Aleutian Islands.

The cancellations were made as a safety precaution, said airline spokeswoman Marianne Lindsey.

"Obviously, the ash cloud made visibility a problem," Lindsey said. "And if there's any kind of debris, that can be ingested into the engines. We didn't want to expose the airplanes to that."

The cancellations included flights between Alaska and Denver, Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver, B.C

The eruption of Kasatochi took scientists by surprise.

The volcano has kept silent for nearly 200 years, said Kristi Wallace, research geologist for the Alaska Volcano Observatory, under the U.S. Geological Survey.

"Even reports from back then show nothing of this magnitude," Wallace said.

Kasatochi burst with three distinct blasts, giving rise to a plume cloud that soared 45,000 feet above sea level, she said. Pilots reported sulfuric smells at the time.

The cloud is now swirling in the Gulf of Alaska, far from the shore, she added.

For planes entering the busy flight path into the state, she said, "it looks pretty clear for now."

Sonia Krishnan: 206-515-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com