Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcanic eruption grounds Bali flights as passenger safety remains paramount

Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki in Indonesia erupted twice, spewing ash up to 11km high.
At least 26 flights were cancelled or delayed affecting over 14 000 passengers.
Three airports in East Nusa Tenggara province were closed until Thursday.
More than 20 flights to and from the Indonesian resort island of Bali were cancelled or delayed and three airports in East Nusa Tenggara province were closed due to the eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, officials said on Wednesday.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, which is in East Nusa Tenggara province, erupted on Tuesday, spewing ash 11km high, forcing the country's volcanology agency to raise the alert level to its highest.
It erupted again on Wednesday morning, belching a 1km high ash cloud, the agency said in a statement.
At least 26 international and domestic flights were cancelled or delayed, Indonesia's transportation ministry said in a statement, affecting more than 14 000 passengers.
These included at least 14 flights from India, Singapore and Australia to Bali, the Bali international airport website showed.
Singapore Airlines cancelled four flights between Bali's Denpasar airport and Singapore, and its budget subsidiary Scoot cancelled flights to Bali and the neighbouring island Lombok, the airlines said.
Qantas' low-cost carrier JetStar cancelled several morning flights to Bali from Australia and expects afternoon flights to be delayed.
"Forecasts show the ash cloud is expected to clear by later tonight," JetStar said in a midday travel bulletin.
A number of flights operated by AirAsia Malaysia and AirAsia Indonesia to and from Bali, Lombok and Labuan Bajo were also cancelled or rescheduled, the company said in a statement.
The government closed three airports in East Nusa Tenggara province, including Fransiskus Xaverius Seda in Maumere, from Wednesday until Thursday, as they prioritised the safety of the passengers, said the transportation ministry.
The eruption also forced local authorities to evacuate dozens of residents living in two villages near the volcano, Avi Hallan, an official at the local disaster mitigation agency told Reuters.
"Streets in the two villages were filled with thick ash, gravel, and sand," she said, adding no casualties were reported. The volcano last erupted in May.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of high seismic activity atop multiple tectonic plates.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Forbes

14 hours ago

• Forbes

Volcano Erupts In Eastern Indonesia Disrupting Air Travel

The eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on the Indonesian island of Flores prompted authorities to close three regional airports and cancel dozens of international flights. Over 14,000 passengers are stranded on Flores, Bali and Lombok. The eruption spewed a colossal ash column over 10,000 meters into the atmosphere, posing a danger to commercial airplanes flying at altitudes around 30,000 to 42,000 feet (9.000 to 12.800 meters). Authorities raised alert levels to the highest of a four-tiered system, evacuating over 4,000 people from a 7-kilometer-wide area around the volcano. According to authorities, lahars— a mix of hot water and volcanic debris— pose the greatest danger. During an eruption in November 2024, nine people were killed. Lewotobi is a twin volcano with two summit craters: the Lewotobi Laki-laki (husband Lewotobi) and Lewotobi Perempuan (wife Lewotobi). Lewotobi's twin peaks are classic stratovolcanoes, formed by successive layers of lava, ash, and volcanic debris. Volcanic activity is documented since the 17th century, with most eruptions limited to the smaller Lewotobi Laki-laki. Indonesia frequently experiences earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it lies near the intersection of several tectonic plates, including the Pacific Plate, the Eurasian Plate, the Australian Plate and the Philippine Plate. As parts of the colliding plates and seafloor are pushed into Earth's mantle, blobs of molten rock rise upwards and come into contact with water and gases, resulting in highly-explosive mix on the surface. Over 106 volcanoes are dotting the Indonesian archipelago; at least 60 have been active in the past 400 years. Some of the largest eruptions in recorded history, like the Tambora in 1815 and Krakatoa in 1883, happened here.

CNN

15 hours ago

• CNN

Escalating crises are redrawing the air map of the world. Here's what that means for flyers

Look at a map of the world showing all the airplanes currently in the air and what stands out most — apart from the staggering number of aircraft up there — are the gigantic holes in the sky where no flights can be found. These no-fly zones usually occur where there's a risk to aircraft safety from events on the ground. The escalating conflict in the Middle East is the latest global situation to punch holes through air traffic flows, a situation that aviation experts say is costing commercial airlines time and money as they reroute or cancel flights. It's a reminder that, even when cocooned in a metal tube at 40,000 feet, watching a Hollywood movie and being served dinner and drinks, air passengers remain inescapably tied to the events happening far below them. Global travel is subject to the whims of international geopolitics at most times, but never more so than in the sky. However, after contending with a string of conflicts going back to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and beyond, the disruption of war has become a fact of life that airlines have become adept at dealing with. And natural disasters, like the current volcanic eruption near Bali, Indonesia, can be much more troublesome for the air carriers, one analyst says. 'Airspace closures have become quite common,' said Brendan Sobie, a Singapore-based aviation consultant. 'It's almost like the new normal for airlines to have to navigate this kind of thing,' he told CNN, mentioning the recent flare-up of tensions between India and Pakistan, last year's strikes by Israel and Iran and the war in Ukraine as just some of the manmade events that have disrupted air travel in recent years. As live air tracking maps from websites like FlightRadar24 show, there are now gaping holes over Israel, Iraq, Iran and Ukraine with most traffic squeezed into corridors that skirt around those countries. There is still some international air traffic over Russia, but this mainly consists of Chinese carriers like Air China, Xiamen Air or Cathay Pacific. Russian airspace bordering Ukraine has been closed to all commercial airlines since the start of the invasion, so China's European routes primarily enter or depart above the Baltic Sea, near St. Petersburg. 'Airlines have departments of people constantly looking at airspace issues and assessing risk,' Sobie said, adding that each airline has different variables on how they operate. 'Even airspace that's open, some airlines might deem it as not safe' and reroute accordingly, he said. Often that rerouting involves significant diversions. Pilots must be able to fly far enough away from danger zones that unexpected weather conditions do not accidentally push them over the line, or on-board crises force them to make emergency landings in the wrong place. Increasingly, in an age of cyber warfare, there's also the potential danger of GPS jamming or spoofing around combat zones — with satellite navigation systems at risk of being tricked into showing false locations. No matter the airline, flight disruptions cost money — a lot of it, said Tony Stanton, consultant director of Strategic Air in Australia. For example, he said the current conflict in Iran and Israel is forcing carriers to add two hours on to nonstop flights from London to Hong Kong. Even for relatively efficient long-haul jetliners like Boeing's 777 or Airbus' A350, that means using up considerably more fuel. 'To put that into perspective, whilst many factors affect fuel burn, a B777 burns around $7,000 per hour of fuel as a rough estimate,' Stanton said. Besides fuel, airlines may see increased costs for crew time, new charges to overfly different airspace as well as lost revenue from delays and cancellations. And those losses cannot be quickly recouped because most passengers have booked their tickets weeks or months in advance of the event that's causing the problems. Adding those costs into future ticket sales may not be possible because supply and demand on routes may have changed since the conflict began, the analysts said. 'The business of running a profitable airline is not easy,' Stanton noted. While the current Mideast conflict has seen commercial flights to Iran and Israel stopped entirely, airlines that would once fly over those destinations are having to change routes. Sobie said that the biggest effect proportionately has been on short-haul flights between Central Asia and Mideast destinations like Dubai or Doha. Those flights might have spent two hours of a three- or four-hour flight in Iranian airspace before the fighting began, he said. Many flights that would have crossed Iranian, Iraqi, Jordanian or Israeli airspace are rerouting to flight corridors over Saudi Arabia, Egypt and up into Turkey, Stanton said. 'FlightRadar24 clearly shows how air traffic is currently being pressed into two narrow corridors, particularly a corridor to the south of the conflict zones.' That can mean more work for air traffic controllers, who are fitting more aircraft into smaller spaces, said experts. Accommodations can be made by adjusting things like flight altitudes and take-off times, they said — however, these factors too can have an impact on price, with prime airport 'slots' for take-off and landing costing airlines yet more cash. The analysts also noted that more people and planes are flying today than ever before, and that makes handling any disruptions for conflict more difficult. For instance, air traffic in the Persian Gulf region is three times what it was just a few years ago, Sobie said. The potentially tragic stakes of crossing certain airspace regions were starkly highlighted in July 2014 when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down by a surface-to-air missile launched from an area of Ukraine held by pro-Russian rebels. The incident claimed the lives of all 298 people on board. Adding to the air carriers' concerns is the lack of certainty on when conflicts end. For instance, the war in Ukraine started in February 2022, and route changes and cancellations that resulted from that are still in effect. Flight restrictions imposed after flare-ups between Iran and Israel last year were short-lived, Sobie said. Even with the uncertainty of war, Stanton noted there are bigger worries for air carriers, like volcanoes. 'The most common other phenomenon impacting air routes is volcanic eruptions like what we see in Bali today,' Stanton said. Clouds of volcanic ash contain silica, which can fuse to jet engine parts with catastrophic consequences, can be blown over long distances in high-altitude winds, he said, noting that the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Iceland affected more than 10 million passengers and cost airlines over $1.7 billion. As thick clouds billowed out of Eyjafjallajökull, the skies over the North Atlantic — one of the world's busiest aviation routes — fell silent, with air traffic dropping to levels that wouldn't be seen again until the Covid pandemic a decade later. 'A volcano's eruption can have much greater impacts than a conflict zone,' Stanton said. CNN's Barry Neild contributed to this report.

Yahoo

2 days ago

• Yahoo

After flying with 40 different airlines, one consistently stands out as my favorite

After flying with 40 different airlines, Qantas stands out as my favorite. In my opinion, the airline offers great customer service and in-flight perks. Overall, I think Qantas offers the best combination of value, service, and reliability. When I first started traveling internationally, I wasn't loyal to any one airline. I simply chose whichever flight could get me to my destination at the lowest price. However, in my 30 years of flying with 40 different airlines in seats ranging from business to economy, I've learned that the cost of a ticket isn't everything. Oftentimes, the key to having a great trip is booking with the right airline. And after hundreds of flights, I have one carrier I'll choose every time I can: Qantas. From the friendly staff to the included perks, here's why I love flying with the Australian airline. When flying with Qantas, I always find the staff to be friendly and welcoming. In some cases, they'll even go out of their way to make my trips even better. Once, after a long layover in Europe and a delayed flight with another airline, I was feeling exhausted and disheveled. When a Qantas crew member came by my economy seat with water, we started chatting and I explained my situation. Later, they returned with a first-class amenity kit and pajamas so I could freshen up and change out of my travel-worn clothes. This small, thoughtful act made a big difference for me on a tough travel day, and is something I'll always remember. I love that even on the shortest domestic flights, Qantas offers a free meal or snack and nonalcoholic beverages. This means I never need to arrive early to buy overpriced airport food. Qantas also provides complimentary beer and wine on domestic flights after 12 p.m. — a nice touch that makes even short flights more enjoyable. One of my favorite perks, however, is that baggage is included in the ticket price on all domestic and international flights. This isn't the case on most major airlines (even Southwest famously ended its free baggage policy earlier this year). In my opinion, it's just another thing that makes flying with Qantas pretty great. Another significant advantage of flying with Qantas is the airline's membership in the Oneworld alliance — a global network of 14 airlines that makes connections easier and offers benefits across carriers. The perks are especially great for passengers who have a frequent flyer account with one of the participating airlines. For example, my Qantas gold status grants me priority boarding, extra baggage allowance, and access to over 600 Oneworld lounges globally. The lounge access is one of my favorite perks, since I can grab a decent meal before boarding a meal-free US domestic flight. Sometimes, I even shower after a long-haul journey from Australia, arriving at my final destination refreshed and for the day. No airline delivers perfect service 100% of the time. After all, delays and cancellations happen. However, after hundreds of flights, I've found that Qantas offers the best combination of value, service, and reliability. Although I may occasionally find cheaper fares elsewhere, the overall experience makes Qantas my go-to option whenever possible. Read the original article on Business Insider