November 10, 2010

Indonesia's Mount Merapi Volcanic ash disrupts Jetstar flights to Bali


Ash clouds from volcano Mt Merapi in Java have caused disruptions to Jetstar's flight schedule in Bali. (AFP: Clara Prima)

November 10, 2010 (KATAKAMI / ABC.NET.AU) - Jetstar has been forced to cancel and reschedule flights to and from Bali because of an ash plume from Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano.

The airline is Australia's most frequent carrier to Bali, with four flights out of Australia each day.

But it has stopped night flights to the island because pilots need to make visual checks on approach to the Denpasar airport.

Tonight's flight from Darwin to Denpasar has been cancelled and a flight from Melbourne to Denpasar was re-routed to Darwin yesterday.

Another flight from Denpasar to Darwin is due to land in Darwin this afternoon - almost 12 hours later than scheduled.

The airline has rescheduled its Sydney-to-Denpasar service to ensure all flights to Bali land in daylight hours.

"It allows our pilots to have full visual scope of coming into and out of Denpasar International Airport airspace and we're doing that purely as a precautionary measure in line with high safety standards," Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said.

The airline is offering passengers a range of options to compensate them for any interruptions to their travel.

(*)