Sharjah24 – AFP: Flights to and from La Palma in Spain's Canary Islands resumed Saturday after the airport reopened following a 48-hour closure due to volcanic ash, airlines and the airport authority said.

Clouds of thick ash from the volcano had shuttered the airport on Thursday morning for the second time since the September 19 eruption on La Palma, one of the Spanish islands off the northwestern coast of Morocco.

"La Palma airport is back in operation," Spain's AENA airport authority tweeted, with local Canaries airline Binter confirming it had resumed flights several hours later. 

"Binter has resumed its flight schedule with the island of La Palma following an improvement in weather conditions and the ash cloud," an airline statement said. 

Thick ash had forced the airport to close down on September 25 but although it reopened 24 hours later, it was three days before flights resumed. 

It has been almost three weeks since La Cumbre Vieja began erupting, forcing 6,000 people from their homes as the lava scorched its way across 1,200 acres of land. 

Earlier on Saturday, part of the volcano's cone collapsed, sending new rivers of lava pouring down the slopes towards an industrial zone.