THAI reschedules Thursday flight to Bali

THAI reschedules Thursday flight to Bali

Passengers wait for their delayed flights at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, Indonesia, on Wednesday. (EPA photo)
Passengers wait for their delayed flights at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, Indonesia, on Wednesday. (EPA photo)

Thai Airways International will delay its scheduled flight to Bali on Thursday for about one hour after the airport on the resort island, closed because of a volcanic ash cloud, reopens .

Flight TG431, which normally leaves Suvarnabhumi airport at 8.50am, will be rescheduled to 10am on Thursday, while the return flight, TG432, from Denpasar will leave Indonesia at 4.25pm, 15 minutes later than the regular time, THAI president Charamporn Jotikasthira said on Wednesday.

The rescheduling decision came after Indonesia extended the closure of Ngurah Rai International Airport until Thursday morning due to a large ash cloud drifting in from Mount Rinjani, an active volcano on the nearby island of Lombok.

Mount Rinjani spews volcanic ash in East Lombok, Indonesia, on Wednesday. (EPA photo)

"The (Bali) airport remains closed until 8.45 am (7.45am Thailand time) tomorrow (Thursday). The wind has blown the volcanic ash towards Bali in such a way that it covers the sky around the airport, making conditions unsuitable for flying," Bali airport official Yulfiadi told AFP.

The airline cancelled it Wednesday flight.

THAI services five flights a week to the popular island in Indonesia.

Bali airport manager Trikora Harjo said 692 flights, including 320 international ones, were cancelled between Tuesday and Thursday. Mr Yulfiadi said 106 were scrapped on Wednesday alone.

Thousands of stranded tourists were seen sleeping and sitting around at the airport, but Harjo said "everything's going smoothly".

National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the wind was blowing the ash in a westerly direction towards Bali.

"Seismic activity and eruptions of the volcano continue at a higher intensity," he said.

"There was an eruption this morning, where the volcano spewed ash 1,500 metres to the sky," he added.

Ash from a different volcano -- Mount Raung on Indonesia's main island of Java -- stranded thousands of passengers on Bali for days during the peak holiday season in July.

Air traffic is regularly disrupted by volcanic eruptions in Indonesia, which sits on a belt of seismic activity running around the basin of the Pacific Ocean and is home to the highest number of active volcanoes in the world, around 130.

The main concern for airlines regarding volcanic ash is not that it can affect visibility but rather that it could damage jet engines, according to experts.

Ash turns into molten glass when it is sucked into aircraft engines and in extreme cases can cause them to shut down.


Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT