Dangerous volcanic ash disrupts Australia-Bali flights
There has been chaos at airports across Australia after airlines cancelled flights to and from Bali following a volcanic eruption that spewed ash kilometres into the air.
The groundings affected Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving passengers stranded.
The emergency began on Sunday when Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupted on the Indonesian island of Flores, about 1000 kilometres east of the holiday resort island.
It spewed lava and an ash column nine kilometres high.
The event in East Nusa Tenggara province killed nine people and prompted the evacuation of more than 15,000 close to the crater.
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“Due to volcanic ash caused by Mount Lewotobi in Indonesia, it is currently not safe to operate to and from Bali,” Jetstar said on Wednesday.
The budget airline cancelled all of its flights from Australia to Denpasar until 2 pm Wednesday.
“Impacted customers have been notified directly and provided a range of options, including rebooking their travel for no charge or cancelling their bookings and obtaining a voucher to the value of their untravelled flight/s.”
If the situation improved, Jetstar plans to put on two flights between Australia and Bali.
Virgin confirmed on Wednesday morning it had also cancelled flights to and from Bali due to the unfolding situation in Indonesia.
“We regret the inconvenience this has caused our passengers, and our team is working hard to ensure all passengers booked on our services get to their destination safely and as soon as possible,” a spokesperson said.
A Qantas flight to Bali was turned back on Tuesday night. It was rescheduled for Wednesday.
“We got halfway across Aussie and had to turn around midway. The captain said over the loudspeaker there had been a volcanic eruption,” passenger Hugo Herron, who was meant to be on a surf trip, told Seven’s Sunrise.
“We got home last night around midnight and had to be back at 4 am. As soon as we got here, they said you have to wait until later this afternoon, around 3.30 pm. They don’t still know if they’re flying out.”
Herron said Qantas had provided him with Uber and food vouchers.
A Qantas flight is due to depart Sydney International Airport about 4.30 pm, while Virgin still planned to operate a flight out of Sydney at 5.45 pm.
On Tuesday, Qantas and Virgin Airlines cancelled up to 10 journeys in total, according to their websites.
-with AAP
