Bali Airport Reopens

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Bali airport reopens but flights to Australia still grounded

Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali was reopened at 6:45 a.m. on Monday morning but cannot yet resume full operations so some international flights to Australia remain cancelled.

“Ngurah Rai airport has been opened this morning but there are still 16 flights to Australia that are cancelled,” general manager of Ngurah Rai airport operator Angkasa Pura I, Trikora Harjo, said as quoted by kompas.com on Monday.

He did not elaborate on reasons behind the continued disruptions.

The cancelled flights include 11 Jetstar flights, one Jetstar Asia flight and four Virgin Air flights.

The airport was shut due to volcanic activity at Mount Barujari, located in the caldera of Lombok’s Mount Rinjani in West Nusa Tenaggara. Volcanic ash spread to Bali forcing the airport there to close several times last week.

The airport was closed on Sunday also, forcing the cancellations of 17 flights, mainly international, with a total of 3,369 passengers affected. Seven cancelled flights were domestic, carrying 344 passengers in total.

“Domestic flights are operating as normal today [Monday], except for flights to Lombok, which we will continue to evaluate,” Trikora said.

Separately, co-general manager of Angkasa Pura I at Ngurah Rai, I Gusti Ngurah Ardita, said that the authorities reopened Bali airport on Monday because data from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) and other institutions showed changed winds.

“BMKG data shows that Barujari ashes have moved away from Bali,” he said as quoted by Antara news agency.