The Lombok International Airport operator has extended the closure of the airport until Sunday (Nov. 8) due to the volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Barujari, a cone of Mount Rinjani located in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara Province.

The airport was shut down until Sunday because the wind carrying volcanic ash was blowing toward the south direction, or to the Lombok airport area, I Gede Sandi Asmadi said here Saturday.

"The closure is effective from today, Saturday at 8 a.m. local time, until tomorrow at 8:45 a.m.," he said.

A total of 58 flights have been cancelled during the Lombok airport closure on Thursday and Friday. 

Besides the Lombok International Airport, the Selaparang airport in Mataram is also closed following the volcano eruption.

In the meantime, the Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali resumed operations on Thursday afternoon after volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Barujari forced authorities to close it for two days.

"The Ngurah Rai Airport has been reopened after it is declared normal for operations," Chief of the Public Communication Center at the Transportation Ministry, J.A. Barata, said in a text message on Thursday.

The volcanic ash had forced the authorities to shut down the Ngurah Rai Airport, the Blimbingsari Airport in Banyuwangi, East Java, the Selaparang Airport in Mataram, and the Lombok Praya Airport in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, during the past two days.

According to the Transportation Ministry, a total of 1,180 flights have been cancelled due to the volcanic ash. The cancelled flights included 171 scrapped on Tuesday, 498 on Wednesday, 23 on Thursday and 102 on Friday.

Just on Thursday, Garuda Indonesia cancelled 209 flights to and from the affected airports, including Citilink Indonesias 24 flights and Air Asias 67 flights.

The Indonesian Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) and the Darwin-based Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) of Australia have put out information that the direction of the wind has changed and has blown the volcanic ash away from Bali.

Source: ANTARA