Three Australian airlines have canceled flights to and from Bali after a volcanic eruption near an Indonesian holiday resort produced dangerous volcanic ash.
The grounding affected Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving passengers stranded.
The state of emergency began on Sunday when Mount Lewotovi Rakiraki erupted, spewing a column of volcanic ash nine kilometers high.
The incident in East Nusa Tenggara province, about 500 kilometers from Bali, left nine people dead and more than 15,000 people near the crater evacuated.
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Meteorology said the Lewotowy volcano has been erupting for the past two weeks.
BoM said easterly winds were blowing volcanic ash into Denpasar Airport and the airspace south of the airport, and it was expected to hit parts of Bali and northern Australia into Wednesday.
“The volcanic ash is expected to move over the adjacent marine environment to the south, including parts of the airspace of Bali and northern Australia, until it dissipates late tonight.”
“Flights to and from Denpasar, Bali are currently being disrupted due to volcanic ash approaching Denpasar's airport and airspace. Airlines and airport operators continue to conduct their own risk assessments of the situation.” they stated.
Two Qantas round-trip flights have so far been delayed, one scheduled for Tuesday and the other from Australia to Denpasar on Wednesday.
Ten Virgin flights to and from Indonesia were canceled on Wednesday, with a spokesperson citing “bad weather” as the reason.
“The safety of our customers and crew is our top priority. Due to severe weather conditions caused by the volcanoes in Indonesia, Virgin Australia has canceled all flights to and from Denpasar today (November 13).”
“We regret any inconvenience this may have caused our customers. Our team is working hard to ensure that all customers who book our services reach their destination safely and as quickly as possible. .”
Jetstar announced on Wednesday: “Due to volcanic ash from Mount Lewotobi in Indonesia, flight operations to and from Bali are currently unsafe.”
All flights to and from Denpasar Airport were canceled by 2pm on Wednesday.
Jetstar said in a statement: “We continue to closely monitor the situation and will provide updates as soon as possible for flights scheduled to operate after 2pm AEDT.”
Once the situation improves, Jetstar plans to operate two flights between Australia and Bali.
The Qantas flight was due to depart from Sydney International Airport at around 4.30pm, but Virgin still plans to operate a flight leaving Sydney at 5.45pm.
Qantas and Virgin canceled up to 10 flights in total on Tuesday, according to their websites.
