Qantas and Virgin Australia have suspended services to Perth due to a forecast of ash plume from the Chilean volcano moving into the area.
Pacific Blue has also announced it will suspend flights to Christchurch and Wellington until at least 9am tomorrow while South African Airways has been forced to cancel tonight’s 23.50 flight to Johannesburg.
WA is expected to lose at least $9 million each day that Perth Airport is closed, according to the Tourism Council Western Australia, with potential visitor expenditure losses of up to $54 million per day.
“Hotels, taxis, restaurants, cafes and tourism operators across the state will feel financial pain from even just a short close down,” the tourism council’s chief executive Evan Hall said.
Qantas’ Tasmania and trans-Tasman services remain grounded but flights to and from Adelaide have resumed. One analyst estimated the grounding of aircraft was costing Qantas up to $20 million a day.
All other mainland services on both airlines are now operating as scheduled.
Image: news.com.au