TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Flights cancelled to and from Bali due to volcanic ash
Jetstar and Qantas said they had stopped flights to Bali on Wednesday for safety reasons because of volcanic ash, while plane tracking website Flightradar24 showed flights to the island by AirAsia and Virgin were also cancelled.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Passengers whose flights were cancelled wait at the Ngurah Rai International Airport after the nearby Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcano catapulted an ash tower miles into the sky, in Tuban near Denpasar, Bali on November 13, 2024. (AFP/Sony Tumbelaka)
S
everal international airlines cancelled flights to and from Bali on Wednesday, after further eruptions of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki that has spewed ash clouds as high as 10 km (32,808 ft) and forced thousands to evacuate.
Jetstar and Qantas said they had stopped flights to Bali on Wednesday for safety reasons because of volcanic ash, while plane tracking website Flightradar24 showed flights to the island by AirAsia and Virgin were also cancelled.
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.
Bali is a top tourist hotspot and is a popular destination for Australian visitors.
The first eruption of the Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki on Nov. 3 in the East Nusa Tenggara province, about 800 km (497 miles)from Bali, killed at least nine people. It has since erupted repeatedly, including multiple times on Tuesday.
From Nov. 4 to Nov. 12, 80 flights in Bali were cancelled, including from Singapore, Hong Kong, and several Australian cities, said Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, general manager of Bali's Ngurah Rai airport.
Indonesia has close to 130 active volcanoes and sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an area of high seismic activity atop various tectonic plates.
The ash column from Mount Lewotobi has reached as high as 10 kilometer and authorities have said sand fall has covered surrounding areas.
Bali's international airport operator PT Angkasa Pura Indonesia said Wednesday it had conducted tests in its airspace and said no volcanic ash was detected, saying the airport was "operating as normal".
Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, general manager of Bali's international airport, said in a statement Wednesday 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.
