By Gemma Grant, Amilia Rosa, Zach Hope and Riley Walter
Travellers remain stranded in Australia and Indonesia after severe volcanic eruptions about 800 kilometres from Bali forced the cancellation of dozens of flights.
Drifting ash clouds from Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki in Indonesia have made the flight routes between Australia and Denpasar unsafe for travel, spoiling Bali holiday plans or hopes to get home.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupted earlier this month, killing nine people.Credit: AP
Qantas, Jetstar, Air Asia and Virgin halted flights to and from Bali on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday after a series of deadly eruptions that have killed at least nine people since early this month and forced thousands of Indonesians to evacuate.
Airlines hoped flights could resume by Thursday afternoon, but they were also making plans for several days of disruptions. Thousands of Australian schoolies hope to travel to Bali starting next week.
Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, general manager of I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, said 174 domestic and international flights to and from Bali had been “affected” since November 4, with 90 of these on Wednesday alone.
He added that tests had found no volcanic ash in the area and the airport was “operating normally”.
Stranded travellers
Less than 24 hours ago, Mark Wilson was on his way to Bali to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary.
Mark Wilson (left) is waiting at Melbourne Airport for updates on his cancelled flight.Credit: Gemma Grant
But his plane sat on the tarmac for about an hour on Tuesday evening before passengers were told the flight to Denpasar was cancelled.
Wilson, who is travelling from Gippsland, said the airlines had done their best to deal with a difficult situation. He was still hopeful of making the trip.
“I’d like to think we’ll make it over there … But I’ve got a bad feeling.”
In Bali, holidaymaker Dylan Glassie was worried about getting home to Brisbane in time to make it to his mother’s 50th birthday party in Sydney.
The project manager and his partner, Gabriella, were supposed to fly Jetstar to Brisbane on Wednesday morning.
“If we do have to stay another night, which it is looking like, we’ll have to pay out of pocket for that,” he said.
Dylan Glassie, from Queensland, waiting at Denpasar airport. He needs to get home for his mother’s 50th birthday celebration. Credit: Amilia Rosa
“It’s a little bit frustrating. It seems to be always with Australian flights, most likely Jetstar. But also these things are unforeseen, and they do happen out of anyone’s control, which is also understandable.”
Max Sculla and his family, including two toddlers, woke up to an email from Jetstar on Wednesday informing them their flight home to Australia had been affected.
Calls to the airline were difficult, he said. When they did get through, they were only offered a voucher, not a refund.
“But that means that our insurance won’t cover things. So we’re not sure what to do,” he said.
They were instructed to get to the airport anyway because the flight could still leave later in the day. They did so, only to learn it had been cancelled.
“I think we’ll book accommodation and then book another flight with another company,” he said. “We’re trying to get onto the insurance [company] but we can’t.”
Friends Ella Cockfield and Erica James travelled from Geelong to Melbourne Airport on Wednesday morning, excited about their Bali holiday.
Their flight to Denpasar was also cancelled, so they tried to book a new destination from the airport – perhaps Malaysia or Singapore.
Friends Ella and Erica were attempting to book new flights from the airport on Wednesday.Credit: Gemma Grant
“I just want to go anywhere now – make the best of a bad situation, I guess,” Cockfield said.
Flight status
Jetstar said in a statement: “We continue to monitor the situation closely and are planning to add extra flights to get customers to their destination as soon as possible.
“We will provide an update on flights scheduled to operate after 12 noon AEDT on Thursday.”
Both Virgin and Qantas had planned to operate flights from Sydney Airport later on Wednesday afternoon but cancelled those services. A Qantas spokeswoman said the flight scheduled for 4.30pm had been rescheduled for Thursday afternoon, while the 5.45pm Virgin flight had been cancelled.
Indonesian airline Citilink’s flights to and from Perth were not impacted because they have a different flight path. A Citilink arrival touched down early Wednesday morning.
Virgin’s policies state that customers who are affected by a volcanic disruption are entitled to a new flight without charge, or full credit or a refund. Jetstar was offering a voucher.
The volcanic status in Indonesia has been categorised as “above normal”, according to Indonesian authorities. Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki – one of the 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia – has been given a level-four alert, the most serious warning.
The country is prone to earthquakes, landslides and volcanic activity because of its position on a series of seismic fault lines.
With AAP, AP, Jessica McSweeney and Kayla Olaya
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.