Bali Airport Reopens After Volcanic Ash Clears
Regional hub is Indonesia's second-busiest airport, serving more than 400 flights a day
A local guide and foreign tourists photograph the Mount Agung volcano on Friday.
Photo: Johannes Christo/Reuters
Ben Otto
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Updated June 29, 2018 5:03 am ET
Indonesia reopened the main airport on the resort island of Bali after a half-day of closure due to volcanic eruptions that sent ash shooting more than 8,000 feet into the sky.
Authorities halted operations at Ngurah Rai International Airport before dawn on Friday, concerned that windblown ash from new eruptions at Mount Agung could interfere with flights. They initially said it would remain closed until at least 7 p.m. local time, but determined at midday that the airspace was free of volcanic ash and resumed operations at 2:30 p.m. Ngurah Rai, Indonesia's second-busiest airport, is a regional hub that serves more than 400 flights a day.
Volcanic ash—even hundreds of miles from an eruption site—poses a risk to planes, with the potential to stop engines and add to wear and tear to aircraft.
The nearly 10,000-foot Mount Agung has been active since last September, when a series of eruptions drove more than 130,000 people from its flanks. It forced the airport to close for several days in November, denting Bali's tourism numbers for the year.
Bali is the top tourist destination in the tropical Southeast Asian country, drawing around five million foreign visitors in 2016—out of 12 million nationwide. Tourism constitutes some 11% of Indonesia's trillion-dollar economy.