Chinese Aviation Suspends All Flights From Bali

Mt. Agung
Mt. Agung (photo: Facebook)
By Mei ManuelDecember 4th, 2017

On Monday, the state-run newspaper People's Daily reported that China's aviation bureau has suspended all flights from Bali to Chinese cities until the volcanic ash in the holiday island dissipates.

Several tourists have already been stranded in the island since last week due to the erupting Mount Agung, forcing the island's airport to cancel flights in and out of the island. The flights were resumed on Wednesday after some of the volcanic ash in the area have been blow away by the wind. Airlines were also given the chance to decide whether they wish to fly when the airport was reopened.

However, the Chinese aviation authority stopped the other flights to and from the island when the last charter flight to the island arrived on Monday with 15,237 stranded Chinese tourists back to the country.

The tweet also remarked "China's aviation authority has suspended all flights from Bali to Chinese cities until volcanic ash threat clears."

Volcanic ash has the capacity to damage engines and clog fuel and cooling systems. It can also give problems for pilot visibility and trigger engine failure.

Both China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines had stopped their flights to Bali last week, but both companies have yet to make an announcement on when they will resume flights to the island.

Chinese tourists are the top visitors in Bali this year, comprising a quarter of the 4.9 million arrivals from the first 9 months of the year.

As of Monday, Mount Agung is no longer spewing ash, but white smoke remains in the crater according to Purwo Nugroh of the disaster mitigation agency.

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