Friday, July 22, 2011

"Alaska volcano shows signs of impending eruption" (FAA; FLYX; JALFQ)

A possible air travel headache.
FAA is both the aconym for the aviation administration and the symbol for the Guggenheim airline ETF. FLYX is Direxion's entry. JALFQ is Japan Airlines.
From Reuters:
Recent satellite images of a remote Alaska volcano along a flight route for major airlines show it may be poised for its first big eruption in 10 years, scientists said.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory has issued an eruption advisory for the 5,676 foot-tall (1,730 meters) Cleveland Volcano, located on the uninhabited island of Chuginadak in the Aleutian chain about 940 miles (1,500 km) southwest of Anchorage.

The advisory was based on "thermal anomalies" detected by satellite, the observatory said on Thursday. Those measurements indicate the volcano could erupt at any moment, spewing ash clouds up to 20,000 feet (3.7 miles/6 km) above sea level with little further warning, the observatory said.

A major eruption could disrupt international air travel because Cleveland Volcano, like others in the Aleutians, lies directly below the commercial airline flight path between North America and Asia, said John Power, scientist-in-charge at the Alaska Volcano Observatory....MORE

Here's the Observatory's Cleveland page.
And for the speculator:
Repost: "How to short a volcano" (What did Eyjafjallajökull screw up?)