Ash cloud clears, Australia flights resume

A Virgin plane takes off at Sydney’s domestic airport June 22, 2011. Tens of thousands of air passengers faced more flight chaos in Australia on Wednesday caused by an ash cloud from a Chilean volcano, although grounded flights were starting to resume from some cities as the ash moved offshore


Australian airlines struggled to move a backlog of tens of thousands of passengers today after an ash cloud from a Chilean volcano, which had grounded flights across the country’s eastern and southern states, cleared .

The ash cloud has circled the earth twice to disrupt Australian airlines for a second time, costing Qantas an estimated A$20 million (RM64.20 million) before the latest disruptions and the tourism industry more than A$15 million in two weeks.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology’s Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre said long-term modelling suggested the ash cloud would not pass over Australia for a third time and disrupt airlines.

Volcanic ash can be extremely dangerous to aircraft and cause engine failure or engine damage.



Qantas said it had resumed flights from Melbourne and Sydney, the country’s two main terminals, while Virgin Australia had also resumed flights. Qantas low-cost subsidiary Jetstar and discount carrier Tiger Airlines were all also gradually resuming flights.

“There’s possibly some hope that Thursday will start to return to normal,” said Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson.

The majority of international carriers continued flights to and from Australia today, with airlines including Singapore, Thai, Etihad and Emirates landing in Sydney.

A volcano in Chile’s Puyehue-Cordon Caulle chain erupted on June 4 after lying dormant for decades, the latest eruption to hit international travel.

Iceland’s most active volcano at Grimsvotn sent a thick plume of ash and smoke 25km into the sky last month, disrupting air travel in northern Europe.

The eruption of another Icelandic volcano in April 2010, Eyjafjallajokull, led to 100,000 cancelled flights, affecting 10 million people at a cost of US$1.7 billion (RM5.14 billion).

Australia’s Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the disruption would impact the economy, already hit by natural disasters that cut 1.7 per cent from growth during the first three months of this year, the biggest decline in 20 years.

“Having that disruption to international services means lower revenue in terms of tourism and in a country such as ours, where we rely on aviation to connect each other and to the world, there is a bigger economic cost,” he said.

Air New Zealand domestic flights operated as scheduled today, while Jetstar in New Zealand said yesterday it would cancel all New Zealand domestic flights until midday today.

Andrew Tupper from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, said it was unlikely the ash cloud would make a third journey round the globe.

“The volcano is still erupting but not at the same levels,” he said. “It is very unusual for ash clouds to do two circuits.”

“The last time volcanic ash circled the globe in the southern hemisphere was in 1991.