Residents of Eputobi village watch the eruption of Mount Lewotobi on 8 November. Photo: BAYU ISMOYO and ARNOLD WELIANTO / AFP
Air NZ flights to Bali have resumed after halting this week over ash from a volcanic eruption in Indonesia.
Air New Zealand says its teams are continuing to monitor the ash cloud closely, but at this stage there were no further impacts to its Bali schedule.
An Air NZ flight from Auckland to Bali departed on Friday, and the return flight was on Saturday en route back to Auckland
Several other international airlines have also resumed flights to and from Indonesia's resort island, after multiple eruptions of the Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano belched ash up to 10 km into the air.
The eruptions in East Nusa Tenggara province forced the cancellation of more than 160 flights to and from Bali between November 4 to November 13, with 91 flights halted on Thursday (NZT), the most in one day, said Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, general manager of Bali's Ngurah Rai airport in Denpasar.
East Nusa Tenggara is located about 800 km (497 miles) from Bali's popular tourist destinations.
The first eruption of the Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki, earlier this month, killed at least nine people, damaged more than 2000 houses and forced the evacuation of 13,000 residents.
On Friday, Virgin Australia asaid in a statement that it had resumed all scheduled flights in and out of Denpasar. Jetstar and Qantas said in a statement that they have resumed some of their flights to and from Bali as conditions had improved.
- RNZ with Reuters
