Indonesia: Bali airport reopens as wind clears volcanic ash

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/>