Fresh eruption threatens Bali flights

A fresh volcanic eruption is disrupting flights to Bali, where thousands of Australian travellers remain stranded.

Virgin Australia has already delayed some Wednesday flights to the Indonesian resort island while it reassesses flying conditions.

“Variable wind conditions” are being cited as grounds for possibly delaying or cancelling flights, but both Virgin and Jetstar say flying conditions are currently safe and there’s no risk to plane engines from the resulting ash cloud but also warn the situation could change quickly.

Stephanie Bond, from the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, says light variable winds around the volcano, which lies about 150km west of Bali’s Denpasar airport, are unpredictable.

“At the moment the ash is moving to the northwest of the volcano, away from Denpasar,” she told AAP on Wednesday.

“But light and variable winds tend to change. They are not always from one constant direction and that’s the problem. They could change later in the day.”

Ms Bond said move favourable wind conditions were expected on Thursday.

“From Thursday the models indicate that we should see a constant direction of ash moving generally to the west, away from Denpasar.”

If conditions hold, Virgin Australia plans to run eight flights on Wednesday to bring tourists back from Denpasar airport, which has been closed twice in the past week due to an ash cloud threat emanating from the first eruption on July 2.

Seven flights will also leave Australian airports for Bali on Wednesday, and they’ll be used to bring more travellers home on Thursday.

Jetstar is also running flights, and hopes to bring more than 3000 passengers home on its Wednesday services.

Qantas is doing its bit to help, planning two special relief flights to supplement additional services by its subsidiary Jetstar.

Recent volcanic activity has played havoc with air services to Bali, with ash clouds that can choke plane engines forcing Denpasar airport to close twice in the past week.

Virgin Australia and Jetstar have ramped up flights to get thousands of Australians home, but thousands more are still waiting to get out.

Jetstar boss David Hall says the airline had redoubled its efforts to keep passengers informed, after many returned travellers complained about poor communication.

“We’ve got a dozen people on the ground now in Denpasar helping the customers at the airport,” he told the Seven Network on Wednesday.

“We’ve got people working around the clock in our operating centre and customer recovery, getting information through to customers. We’ve doubled our team on social media, responding to social media.”

Both airlines advise customers to keep up to date with any changes via its website and social media channels.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

Latest comments

AUSSIEtraveller says:
July 15, 2015 at 12:47 pm
surely airlines could ferry passengers to Surabaya by turboprop aircraft & have jets there.
It’s only 190 miles or about an hours flying, if that.
Turboprops such as Dash 8-400’s fly lower than jets & don’t think they get effected by ash, unlike jet engines.
Some turboprops can seat 80 passengers. Would be much cheaper for travel insurance companies as well, than paying for clients to stay up to a week longer.
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@australia bali jetstar virgin australia volcano