MAS, AIRASIA RESUME BALI FLIGHTS
Passengers advised to be at airport 3 hours before departure
MALAYSIA Airlines (MAS) resumed all flights between Kuala Lumpur and Bali yesterday, following the reopening of Ngurah Rai International Airport.
MAS advised passengers to be at the airport at least three hours prior to departure.
“This is to avoid the long queues at the check-in counters,” it said on its website yesterday.
The national carrier said it had arranged ground transport to Surabaya from Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar with an onward connection to Kuala Lumpur.
“The journey from Bali to Surabaya will take 12 hours.
“Affected passengers need to register themselves at the airline’s Customer Service Desk counter at level three at the airport.”
MAS said it would mount one rescue flight from Surabaya to Kuala Lumpur.
AirAsia said it resumed some flights to and from Bali yesterday following a safety assessment conducted by its safety and operations teams.
An AirAsia spokesman said scheduled flights were based on safety advisories issued by Indonesian authorities.
“Passengers who no longer wish to travel are advised to make their refund request at a later stage due to the high volume of customer cases.
“Passengers also advised to check AirAsia’s website and social media pages for further announcements.”
Malindo Air resumed all flights to and from Denpasar yesterday.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and will adjust flight operations when necessary, prioritising on passengers’ safety.”
AIRLINES laid on extra flights to Bali yesterday to allow some of the thousands of passengers stranded by the eruption of Mount Agung to fly out, as a switch in wind direction sent volcanic ash away from the airport.
Mount Agung was partially shrouded by cloud yesterday, with parts of Bali lashed by monsoon rain, but according to officials, there were persistent tremors from the crater.
“Agung continues to erupt, ejecting volcanic ash up to 2,000m high,” said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency.
The reopening on Wednesday afternoon of Bali’s airport followed a downgrade in an aviation warning to one level below the most serious, with the arrival of more favourable winds.
While Bali’s airport was open again after a more than two-day closure, the airport on neighbouring Lombok island was closed yesterday due to ash, air traffic control provider AirNav said.
Bali airport’s call centre said three flights left yesterday morning, while nine had arrived. It’s website showed dozens of flights scheduled to fly to Singapore, Seoul, Perth and other cities.
Two Chinese state-owned airlines on Wednesday night sent flights to fetch more than 2,700 Chinese tourists from Bali, Xinhua news agency said.
Meanwhile, thousands of villagers living in the shadow of the volcano have been fleeing for days, but some are now risking life and limb by sneaking back into the danger zone — along with thrill-seeking tourists.
The 10km radius around Mount Agung is littered with roadside signs that read “Volcanic danger zone. No entry!”, underscoring the potential risks.
But for chicken farmer Wayan Kompyang, 45, a father of nine, heading into the no-go area was no choice at all — his livelihood depended on it.
“I keep coming back to the village to check on my chickens and feed them,” he said in Pring Sari, a tiny community less than 8km from the belching crater.
His prized poultry isn’t for eating though — the chickens are used in sabung, a traditional rooster fighting contest in which villagers bet on the outcome.
There hasn’t been much chicken fighting since the volcano burst to life again in the past week. But with his family safe in an evacuation centre, Wayan is afraid of losing his only source of income.
“I have to keep taking care of them to make sure they are healthy and ready to fight after this situation calms down.”
A new headache for officials are foreign “eruption chasers” sneaking into the red zone to get close to the burbling mountain.
“We just wanna see it,” said French tourist Anna Mangler, who was on a motorbike with her German companion when police stopped them from entering the restricted area.
“We are here for vacation... so why not? Of course it is scary, but it’s gonna be okay,” she said.
Sutopo urged other “chasers” to reconsider.
“We’re asking foreign tourists trespassing on the exclusion zone to not do it.
“Yesterday (Wednesday), rocks were falling up to 4km from the crater, so it’s really dangerous... Don’t challenge nature.”