Bali flights to resume after ash cloud cancellations
All flights in and out of Bali are set to resume after a volcanic ash cloud left hundreds of passengers stranded during the first week of school holidays.
Virgin, Jetstar and Tigerair flights from Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney were delayed overnight after Mount Rinjani, near Lombok, began shooting ash into the atmosphere.
Both Tigerair Australia and Jetstar confirmed the cancellation of a number of flights on Tuesday.
Tigerair said a scheduled Tuesday night flight from Perth to Bali and a Wednesday morning flight from Bali to Melbourne would not be operating because of volcanic activity from Indonesia’s Mount Rinjani.
It said advice from its team of meteorologists and the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre was that conditions were not suitable for flights into and out of Denpasar Airport.
“We will always put safety before schedule and will only commence flying when it is safe to do so,” Jetstar said in a statement.
Perth Airport also issued a statement which said it was monitoring the movement of volcanic ash over Indonesia.
It said decisions about flights were made by the individual airlines and operators.
“Safety is and always will be the highest priority … passengers are encouraged to contact their airline for information about their flight status prior to coming to Perth airport,” it said.
According to the Perth Airport’s website, an AirAsia flight from Perth to Denpasar departed as scheduled on Tuesday night.
The airline has been contacted for comment.
Mount Rinjani forced the cancellation of flights from multiple airlines last month.