Many airlines have had to cancel flights to and from Bali because of the dangerous ash clouds which have been emanating from a volcano near the Indonesian island.
Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia informed their passengers on Wednesday that it was impossible to fly because of the ash from Mount Lewotobi Laki-lak.
The volcano ejected a 9km (6.2 miles) ash plume into the sky over the weekend, a week after a massive eruption that took 10 lives.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has also predicted that the volcanic ash may spread to some parts of Australia’s north on Wednesday.
Jetstar said all flights to and from Bali until 12:All flights scheduled at 00 Australian Eastern Daylight Time Thursday (04:00 GMT) have been cancelled.
Others that have adopted the strategy are Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific, India’s IndiGo, and Malaysian carrier AirAsia.
Virgin Australia, which cancelled all its flights to and from Bali on Wednesday, said in a statement: “We are always concerned for the safety of our guests and participants, and our meteorology team is working on it.”
Singapore Airlines and its subsidiary Scoot have also had to cancel some flights — but other flights to and from Bali are still listed on Singapore’s airport website as operating on Wednesday.
The general manager of Bali’s international airport Ahmad Syaugi Shahab said to Reuters that 22 international flights and 12 domestic ones were cancelled on Tuesday but did not mention the cancellation of the flights on Wednesday.
Volcanic ash has also impacted the activities in Indonesia. A jazz festival held in Labuan Bajo town, which is 600km away from Mount Lewotaobi Laki-laki, has been rescheduled to next year due to security issues.
Indonesia lies in the Pacific Ring of Fire, a region of intense seismic and volcanic activity on the edges of four tectonic plates, and has around 130 volcanoes.
Past volcanic eruptions have disrupted aviation. In 2020, ash clouds from Mount Merapi shut an airport in the city of Solo.
