Airlines from Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali yesterday after a nearby volcano catapulted a tower of ash in the sky.

Australian airlines Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded their flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on the island of Flores spewed a 9km tower a day earlier.

Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Indian carrier IndiGo and Singaporean carrier Scoot also listed their flights as canceled.

Photo: AFP

“Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to the safety of aircraft operations near volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said in announcing several cancellations.

Multiple eruptions of the 1,703-meter double-peaked volcano in recent weeks have killed nine people, with 31 injured and more than 11,000 evacuated, Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said Tuesday.

Eruptions can pose serious risks to flights, spilling fine ash that can damage jet engines and eat away a plane’s windshield until it becomes invisible.

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific also listed its flights as canceled, rescheduling routes to and from Bali until today.

“Virgin Australia has made some changes to its current flight schedule, due to the impacts of the volcano in Indonesia,” the airline said, listing canceled flights to Sydney and Melbourne.

Jetstar said all flights to and from Bali would be suspended until midday today.

Qantas said “a number of flights to and from Denpasar Airport in Bali were disrupted” due to the Lewotobi volcanic ash.

Malaysia Airlines announced yesterday that it had canceled six flights in a statement on its website.

Airlines said they would monitor the volcano’s condition and provide updates.

Singapore Airlines still indicated that its flights were in progress yesterday.

Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, general manager of Bali International Airport, said 12 domestic flights and 22 international flights were affected on Tuesday.

It did not provide details of the affected flights on yesterday’s schedule.

“Due to this natural event impacting flight operations, airlines are offering affected passengers options for refunds, rescheduling or rerouting,” it added in a statement.

Bali International Airport operator PT Angkasa Pura Indonesia said it had carried out tests in its airspace and no volcanic ash had been detected, saying the airport was “operating normally”.

Lewotobi erupted again yesterday at midnight until early morning, and a large column of ash could be seen rising from its crater.