Jetstar and Qantas are planning to launch flights on Thursday to rescue stranded holidaymakers in Bali before Mount Agung’s eruption becomes explosive.
A potentially small window has opened up with the ash cloud being blown away from the airport today, allowing flights to resume that is as long as the eruption does not worsen overnight.
Denpasar Airport will open at 3pm today.
Jetstar plans to operate nine scheduled services tomorrow. In addition it will operate four relief flights – two Boeing 787 flights to Melbourne and two A320 flights to Perth.
Qantas will operate its one scheduled service tomorrow as well as a Boeing 747 flight to Sydney and another Boeing 737-800 flight to Perth. These will bring both Qantas and Jetstar passengers back to Australia.
Customers will be connected to their home port.
According to the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, the wind has swung from the north-east to the north-west and is pushing the ash cloud to the south-east and away from Denpasar airport.
About 150,000 travelers from around the world are stranded on Bali and bus services to Java and other airports are full for the next five days.
Jetstar said it would not be taking passengers up – only bringing people back. It will review that position.
Virgin Australia is expected to take similar action.
It is not clear what actions Garuda Indonesia, Indonesia AirAsia, Batik Air or other international airlines will take.
The holiday mecca is bracing for an even larger, possibly explosive, eruption of Mt Agung after a massive 30-minute tremor inside the crater on Tuesday.
Over 1000 flights have been canceled since Bali airport closed on Monday, disrupting the plans of more than 150,000 passengers.
Indonesian Government volcanologist Gede Suantika said the mountain was in a critical phase and the observatory post near the summit may be evacuated.
“There are two possibilities. First, the magma will fill the crater and flow out or it will come out as an explosion.
“We are just waiting for the big one.”
Ash has been falling at the airport for over 48 hours and will require cleaning up before any airline operations can resume.
See Virgin Australia ash assessment video below;
