The airport on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali reopened Wednesday as wind blew away ash spewed out by a volcano, giving airlines a window to get tourists out while authorities stepped up efforts to get thousands of villagers to move to safety. Operations at the airport - the second-busiest in Indonesia - have been disrupted since the weekend when Mount Agung, in east Bali, began belching out huge clouds of smoke and ash, and authorities warned of an “imminent threat” of a major eruption. “Bali’s international airport started operating normally,” air traffic control provider AirNav said in a statement, adding that operations resumed at 2:28 p.m. (0628 GMT). The reopening of the airport, which is about 60 km (37 miles) away from Mount Agung, followed a downgrade in an aviation warning to one level below the most serious, with the arrival of more favourable winds. A large plume of white and grey ash and smoke hovered over Agung on Wednesday, after night-time rain partially obscured a fiery glow at its peak. Singapore Airlines said it would resume flights while Australia’s Qantas Airways said it and budget arm Jetstar would run 16 flights to Australia on Thursday to ferry home 3,800 stranded customers. Singapore Airlines and SilkAir were seeking approval to operate additional flights on Thursday, while budget offshoot Scoot said it would cease offering land and ferry transport to the city of Surabaya, on Java island, as it resumed flights to Bali. Virgin Australia plans to operate up to four recovery flights to Denpasar on Thursday. As many as 430 domestic and international flights had been disrupted on Wednesday.<br/>
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Australia's PM said Wednesday that he was discussing with his government how to help thousands of Australians stranded by volcanic smoke on the popular Indonesian resort island of Bali. Australians account for more than one in four of the international tourists who flock to Bali, so ash spewing from Mount Agung that has grounded local aircraft has also created chaos at Australian airports. PM Malcolm Turnbull urged Australians who cannot leave Bali's airport to contact the local Australian Consulate. "I'll be talking to the foreign minister (Julie Bishop) about how we can best support Australians who are caught up in Bali right now," Turnbull told reporters. "We provide extensive support to Australians who are in trouble of one kind or another overseas and they should be in touch with the consulate in Bali."<br/>
Berlin Tegel Airport has reported a 12% year-over-year drop in passenger throughput for October following airberlin’s insolvency. Tegel was the home base of the bankrupt German carrier, which filed for bankruptcy Aug. 15 after 29.2% shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew financial support. Airberlin operated its last flight Oct. 27 from Munich to Berlin Tegel. Tegel operator Berlin Brandenburg International Airport said the impact of the airberlin crisis is now visible, affecting both German airports (including Schoenefeld). The two airports reported a total of 28.9m passengers the first 10 months of 2017, up 4.4% YOY. Without airberlin, the German aviation system is losing 60,000 passengers seats and 250 flights every day. <br/>
A Senate resolution that would have reduced fuel costs for airlines in Brazil failed to muster the needed two-thirds majority on Wednesday and was shelved. The measure that proposed a maximum 12% ICMS sales tax for all aviation, from crop dusters to passenger jets, would have benefited Brazil’s main domestic airlines LATAM Airlines, GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes, Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras and Avianca Brazil.<br/>
Airbus has begun final assembly of the first A330-800, the second member of the A330neo family. First flight is scheduled for mid-2018, with entry into service expected in 2019. The A330-800—which is based on the A330-200 and retains the earlier aircraft’s fuselage length—complements the larger A330-900, which is a development of the A330-300. The A330-900 flew for the first time in October 2017. Both aircraft incorporate Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines, plus aerodynamic improvements and new cabin technologies. The A330-800 can operate routes of up to 7,500nm. The recently launched 251-tonne MTOW variant is designed to tackle routes of up to 8,150nm. The A330-800 will seat 257 passengers in a typical three-class layout, while being able to carry 406 in a high-density, single-class configuration.<br/>