Several flights to and from Bali have been canceled due to dangerous ash clouds spewing from a volcano near the famous Indonesian island.
Airlines including Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia informed passengers about the disruptions on Wednesday, saying ash from Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki had made flights unsafe.
The volcano released a 9km column of ash into the sky over the weekend, just days after an eruption that resulted in the deaths of 10 people.
Continues after advertising
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology also warned that volcanic ash could move to northern parts of the country on Wednesday.
Read more:
Australian airline Jetstar announced that all flights to and from Bali have been cancelled. Cathay Pacific, from Hong Kong, IndiGo, from India, and AirAsia, from Malaysia, also took the same measure. Virgin Australia, which canceled all its flights to and from Bali on Wednesday, highlighted in a statement: “Safety is always our highest priority, and our weather team is monitoring the situation closely.”
Continues after advertising
The Singapore airport website showed that some airlines, such as Singapore Airlines and its low-cost subsidiary Scoot, had also canceled flights, although other flights to and from Bali continued to operate on Wednesday.
Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, general manager of Bali international airport, told Reuters that 22 international flights and 12 domestic flights were affected on Tuesday (12), but did not provide details about Wednesday’s flights.
Activities in Indonesia were also impacted by volcanic ash.
Continues after advertising
A jazz festival in the town of Labuan Bajo, located about 600km from Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki, has been postponed until next year due to security concerns.
Indonesia is located in the Pacific “Belt of Fire”, an area of high seismic activity located on several tectonic plates, and has around 130 active volcanoes.
Previous volcanic eruptions have caused aviation disruptions; in 2020, ash clouds from Mount Merapi closed an airport in the city of Solo.
FREE ACCESS
BONDS PORTFOLIO
