Airlines cancel Bali flights due to ash from erupting volcano
13 November, 2024
Several airlines on Wednesday (Nov 13) cancelled their flights to and from the Indonesian resort island of Bali, after a nearby volcano again catapulted an ash tower kilometres into the sky.
Several airlines canceled Bali flights as Mount Lewotobi in Indonesia erupted, sending a 9km ash cloud into the sky. Jetstar, Qantas, Virgin Australia, and others halted or rescheduled flights, affecting 34 flights. Over 11,000 were evacuated following recent eruptions.
Australian airlines Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all issued advisories announcing changes to their flight schedules after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier.
"Virgin Australia has made some changes to its current flight schedule, due to the impacts of the volcano in Indonesia," the airline said, listing scrapped flights to Sydney and Melbourne. Jetstar said all flights to and from Bali would be halted until noon on Thursday. "Due to volcanic ash caused by the Mount Lewotobi eruption in Indonesia, it is currently not safe to operate flights to and from Bali," the company said in an advisory.
Qantas said "a number of flights to and from Denpasar Airport in Bali have been disrupted" due to volcanic ash from Lewotobi.
“Impacted customers will be notified directly and provided with their options,” it added.
According to the Changi Airport website, three Jetstar flights from Bali to Singapore on Wednesday were cancelled. The flights were originally scheduled to arrive at 2.15am, 1.30pm, and 9.15pm.
A Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight that was expected to arrive at 10am on Wednesday was also cancelled while several flights by SIA’s low-cost carrier Scoot between Singapore and Bali were cancelled or re-timed.
CNA has contacted SIA and Scoot for more information.
AirAsia said in a statement on Wednesday that the "extensive volcanic ash clouds" were expected to affect airspace within the region.
This has caused the cancellation or rescheduling of some AirAsia Malaysia, AirAsia Thailand, AirAsia Indonesia, AirAsia X Malaysia flights to and from Bali, Lombok and Labuan Bajo since Nov 4, it added.
Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, general manager of Bali's international airport, said in a statement on Wednesday that 12 domestic and 22 international flights were affected a day ago, without identifying the routes.
He did not provide details about affected flights on Wednesday's schedule.
"Due to this natural event impacting flight operations, airlines are offering affected passengers the options of refunds, rescheduling, or re-routing," he added.
Bali's international airport operator PT Angkasa Pura Indonesia said on Wednesday it had conducted tests in its airspace and said no volcanic ash was detected, saying the airport was "operating as normal".
Lewotobi erupted again from midnight Wednesday until early morning, and a large ash column could be seen pouring from its crater, an AFP journalist nearby said.
Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in recent weeks have killed nine people with 31 injured and more than 11,000 evacuated, Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency said on Tuesday.
Laki-Laki, which means "man" in Indonesian, is twinned with a calmer volcano named after the Indonesian word for "woman".
Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire".
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com