INDONESIA VOLCANO ERUPTS CAUSING AIRPORT CLOSURE AND FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS

Once again the press is spinning bad news to sell their product.

Anything to do with Bali sells in the news these days and the fact that maybe one or two flights were cancelled because the pilots or airlines felt uncomfortable with a volcano going off on an island 430 km away from Bali to me it just poor planning on behalf of the airlines and the pilots.



As can be clearly seen on the diagram that I developed below based on my 21 Years Living in Bali, five of which was as a captain of a yacht and for the past six years at my beachfront residence experiencing the trade winds firsthand this Volcanic eruption will have little or no effect on Bali .



Right now the trade winds are flowing from Southeast to Northwest and will continue to do so until at least October or November.

This means that any ash cloud from Mount Merapi will be blown away to the West and Northwest.

People that have to worry about this are Yogyakarta, and the 12 million to 15 million people that live in Jakarta. Places such as Singapore may feel the ash which may be add to their yearly fog created by burning.

At any rate remember that the majority of our tourists these days come from Australia, and Northeast Asia. This volcano at this time of the year will have no effect on flights coming directly from Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Australia. New Zealand. Canada. America etc.

So tourists that have flights need not fear. Nobody should consider cancelling their reservations to Bali which again is 430 km away from the volcano.
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Mount Merapi is the most active volcano in the country

Thousands of travellers to and from Bali, Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur have had their flights cancelled, delayed or diverted due to the eruption of Mount Merapi in central Java.

The 9,610 ft volcano, the most active in Indonesia, erupted at 7.32am on the morning of Friday 11 May.

Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Authority (BNPB) said “ash rain” had fallen, “especially in the south to southwest of the peak crater of Mount Merapi”.

The organisation urged people in the vicinity of the eruption to remain calm, but to “use a mask when performing activities outside the home”.



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Java residents evacuated after volcano erupts in Indonesia

The airport at Yogyakarta, a city of nearly half-a-million people, was temporarily closed.

Air Asia cancelled services from Bali, Jakarta and Singapore, while its departure from Kuala Lumpur to Yogyakarta was instructed to return to the Malaysian capital.

Garuda, the Indonesian national airline, grounded 14 flights. In a statement, the carrier said: “The cancellation of flights to and from Yogyakarta is in line with the company's commitment to prioritise the safety aspects of aviation operations, particularly considering the distribution of volcanic ash which is very risky to aviation safety.

Round trip: flightpath of Air Asia AK346 from Kuala Lumpur to Yogyakarta, which returned to base because of the volcanic eruption in Indonesia (Flightradar24)

“Garuda Indonesia will continue to monitor the situation and developments related to the activity of Mount Merapi.”

In 2010, an eruption of the same volcano killed 347 people.

There was widespread disruption to domestic and international flights.

Late in 2017, tens of thousands of travellers were stranded on the island of Bali due to fears that Mount Agung might erupt.