Flights between Bali and Australia resume after volcanic ash brings travel plans to standstill
Qantas and Virgin have resumed flights in and out of Bali after volcano ash from an eruption on another Indonesian island grounded planes.
Following the eruption of Mount Lewotobi on the island of Flores last week, Australian airlines cancelled flights to and from Denpasar as volcanic ash spewed into airspace yesterday.
The grounded flights left thousands of Australian travellers in Bali stranded.
READ MORE: What to do if your travel to and from Bali is affected by volcanic ash
Passengers look at a flight information board showing a number of flights cancelled due to the eruption of Mount Lewotobi. AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati
In a statement, Qantas confirmed conditions have improved enough for flights between Australia and Bali, including Jetstar, to resume today.
"Our teams have been working through the night to closely monitor the evolving situation and assess when it's safe to fly," the statement read.
"In good news, conditions this morning have improved allowing us to resume operations from today between Australia and Denpasar on both Jetstar and Qantas."
Qantas said it will continue to closely monitor the volcanic activity and has plans to operate more recovery flights for stranded customers.
"We are contacting customers directly to notify them of any changes to their travel plans. We appreciate the changing situation is frustrating and we thank customers for their understanding and patience," the statement continued.
Jetstar and Virgin Australia jets on the tarmac at Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar, Bali. Paul Rovere/The Age
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Virgin Australia also confirmed it will resume flights today after determining it was safe to do so.
"From today (14 November), we will now resume all scheduled flights in and out of Denpasar," Virgin said in a statement.
"We will continue to contact guests whose flights have been cancelled to accommodate them on recovery flights in the coming days.
"We sincerely regret any disruption these cancellations have caused and assure our guests that our team is working diligently to rebook all impacted guests to their destinations as safely and promptly as possible."
AirAsia said it plans to resume some services to and from Bali later today too.
"We will keep monitoring the changing conditions, and if there are changes, the airline will inform guests via email and SMS on their flight status," a spokesperson said.
Dozens of flights were cancelled to and from the holiday island until at least midday today following unsafe disruption to the airspace.
The havoc was a result of Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano spewing towering columns of hot ash high into the air since a huge eruption last week.
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