Air NZ cancels Bali flights after volcano erupts
All Air New Zealand flights to the Indonesian resort island of Bali have been cancelled after the eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki spewed ash into the sky.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki, which is in East Nusa Tenggara province, erupted on Tuesday, spewing ash 11 km high, forcing the country's volcanology agency to raise the alert level to the highest.
It erupted again on Wednesday morning, belching a 1km high ash cloud, the agency said in a statement.
The eruption has caused Air New Zealand flights to and from Bali to be cancelled.
"NZ290 from Auckland to Bali scheduled for this morning has been cancelled due to volcanic ash forecast to affect the airspace. As a result, the return service NZ291 from Bali to Auckland has also been cancelled," Air New Zealand Chief Operating Officer Alex Marren said.
"The safety of our customers and crew is our top priority and we are closely monitoring the situation. We will be rebooking impacted customers on the next available service to get them to their destination safely. We recommend customers keep an eye on the Air NZ app or website for the latest information on their flight."
Several international flights from India, Singapore and Australia to Bali were cancelled due to the eruption, the Bali international airport website showed.
The government closed the Fransiskus Xaverius Seda airport in Maumere from Wednesday until Thursday "to ensure the safety of the passengers," said the airport operator AirNav in its Instagram post.
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:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
a day ago
- Scoop
Dunedin Airport Art Protest
Remember that its a climate emergency and in 2018 our government committed to halving emissions by 2030 under the terms of the historical Paris Agreement? Tuesday July 22nd 2pm at Dunedin airport Recently I began a small ongoing 'art meets activism project' with my colleague, Craig Hilton, in which a person simply stands in a high profile place with a small A3 sign saying 'It's a Climate Emergency'. This well dressed person (me) stands somewhere quietly with a small A3 sized sign around my neck saying 'It's a Climate Emergency' and any interesting interactions with passersby or the authorities are documented by Craig. He is not obviously part of 'the protest' but just standing somewhere close by in case something happens which is worth documenting. Yesterday we went out to Dunedin airport, which is jointly owned by the Dunedin City Council, who declared a climate emergency in 2019 and the government, who declared one in 2020. You might think someone standing there with a small and uncontroversial sign reminding the airport of its owners stated policy wouldn't provoke much of a reaction at all? Well, you'd be wrong. It only took a couple of minutes before airport security and police turned up and asked us to leave. It should be noted that I approached the information desk as soon as we arrived and introduced myself and said I'd be wandering around a little bit with this sign and they didn't seem to think it would be a problem. Our timing wasn't random – we were there to greet some of the passengers coming off one of Jetstar's three new direct flights a week from the Gold Coast to Dunedin. These new international flights have provoked a price war with Air New Zealand with both companies offering a greater range of discounted international flights. Remember that it's a climate emergency and in 2018 our government committed to halving emissions by 2030 under the terms of the historical Paris Agreement? The man from airport security he made it clear he wanted us to leave immediately. We hadn't interacted with any of the passengers coming off the plane and I doubt they even noticed me but apparently we were both causing 'a problem.' As a long-time climate activist and artist I can't help but notice the increasing disconnect between the reality of the terrifying and ongoing ecological catastrophe which is overwhelming the planet and the head down 'business as usual' approach which is being promoted by this government, as well as much of the mainstream media. As a passionate believer in free speech and the right to protest, I find it surprising that an old man standing quietly at the airport with a small sign can provoke a police response. Many people stand at the airport holding small signs to highlight themselves to arriving passengers for 'legitimate business reasons' and it's obvious that my tiny sign wasn't the problem, it was the words on it. I elected not to leave until I was trespassed and was duly taken round the corner to the police part of the airport and given a formal trespass notice from the airport for two years. As a climate activist I stopped flying on planes many years ago so this was hardly an imposition. To be clear – I am not saying I don't want anyone to ever fly again but I do want people to understand that their holiday choices have real world implications which affect us all. A return flight from Dunedin to the Gold Coast for one person produces roughly 1.3 to 2.6 tonnes of CO2 per passenger. The average New Zealander individually produces around 7 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (t CO2-e) per year so if two people take a return trip to the Gold Coast then this one return flight will produce up to five tonnes of emissions which is a big whack of someone's annual total and recent climate models (see – 'The Mortality Effects of Carbon' by Daniel Bressler -published in the journal 'Nature Communications' in 2021) predict that just four return flights with around 250 people on board could produce enough emissions to kill someone by heat related causes by the end of the century, not counting all of the fires and floods etc. I would like people to be more aware of their carbon footprints and try to do the best they can to reduce them at a time when people and animals are already dying all over the world from the effects of this ongoing climate emergency. I am not against people making important visits to see their relatives and for other important reasons but I do want people to know the true possible costs of a quick holiday in the sun.
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- NZ Herald
Air NZ's New York to Auckland service grounded by fuel leak
Auckland-bound travellers heading out of New York with Air New Zealand have been stranded in the Big Apple after the aircraft being used was grounded with a fuel leak. It's the latest disruption to the airline's route, after the cancellation of services both ways earlier this month because of bad
NZ Herald
17-07-2025
- NZ Herald
Air NZ Dream Seats: Ambassador Simran Kaur from Friends That Invest on dreams and ‘failing upwards'
This month, Kaur adds another feat to her impressive resume as one of Air New Zealand's Dream Seats ambassadors. Launched last week, the campaign aims to help Kiwis achieve their dream by offering free flight tickets to a destination that will help them get closer to their professional goals. Its six ambassadors, including Kaur, Dame Valerie Adams and Josh Emett, will also each personally mentor two Kiwis. Ambassadors Josh Emett and Simran Kaur at the launch event for Dream Seats. Photo / Air NZ 'I'm very, very excited to mentor ... I love teaching, I love talking to people, and I love helping them figure out a plan for how to make their dreams come true,' says Kaur, who grew up around educators. She was even teaching as a kid, running makeshift tutoring classes in chemistry for her friends at the temple - because she enjoyed it, she says. This wasn't always Kaur's dream. Like so many of us, her dreams changed over the years. At one point, it was to become a fashion designer, which, by her own admission, is 'comical' to think about now. 'My friends know me as the worst fashionable person,' she laughs. Despite the lack of fashion sense, her self-belief never wavered. 'I didn't go, do I dress well?' Society tends to frame the act of going after one's dreams as a brave thing to do. But Kaur doesn't think courage has much to do with it. Or even hard work. 'When you're younger, you have such strong dreams and very little doubt in yourself. And I feel like as we get older, the dreams are big, but the self-doubt starts to grow.' Simran Kaur says her biggest mentors are her parents. People can start to internalise things that may never have been said by asking themselves, 'Who am I?' and 'What can I do?' The investor explains. When Kaur was at school, she wrote a speech about the importance and power of failure. She remains steadfast in that belief today. Many successful people, in her view, 'fail upwards'. What that means is they try again smarter, not harder. Rinse and repeat. She also spoke about failure when asked what it takes to achieve dreams. 'I think it's a mixture of luck and not doubting yourself, and just being okay in failure because you will fail at times, but you just keep going. '[If] you just keep trying smarter, you eventually get to whatever it is that your dream is.' While having the right mindset is crucial, so is broadening your horizons with experience. That is to say, travelling may present one with opportunities they may never have received if they stayed in their comfort zone. For Kaur, it played a 'monumental' role in shaping her professional career. She recalls one of her first international trips when she went to the United States for a TEDx Talk at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania to discuss the importance of women investing and how empowering it is to have financial literacy. She met so many people. The trip, she says, 'blew my mind'. 'Being able to travel has just opened so many doors and [it let me meet] such amazing women around the world.' Kaur's brand is popular, having sold more than 100,000 books, reaching 100,000 newsletter subscribers and over 10 million downloads of the Friends That Invest financial education podcast. Simran Kaur with her best friend Sonya Gupthan. Together, they host the popular investment podcast Friends That Invest. But her appeal is also diverse. Kaur's audience spans many cultures, experiences and backgrounds, and yet, she says there is a common thread. They ask her: Are values around money similar in every culture? She's learned that it is. 'We all want to be able to not worry about money. We all want to be able to look after our family. We all want to have a rainy day fund. And those concepts are just universal,' says Kaur, adding that travelling opened her eyes to the fact people are more similar in money values than they are different. If mentees expect Kaur to drip-feed solutions, they will likely be disappointed. Her approach to mentorship is less about being someone with all the answers, and more about being 'a sounding board' and 'someone to hold [mentees] accountable to those dreams". And she can't wait. 'It's gonna be amazing to meet them and to hear what their dreams are and just to allow them to expand their view on themselves and expand their ability to achieve those dreams.' Varsha Anjali is a journalist in the lifestyle team at the Herald. Based in Auckland, she covers travel, culture and more.
