Bali airport open — ash is the issue

Bali’s airport is open again, but flights can still be delayed or canceled when volcanic ash from Mount Lewotobi drifts into air routes. (en.antaranews.com) (thetraveler.org) I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar reopened at 6 a.m. local time on Friday, March 20, after Bali’s annual Nyepi shutdown. Airport officials said 440 scheduled commercial flights did not operate during that 24-hour closure, including 231 domestic and 209 international services. (en.antaranews.com) The first post-Nyepi arrivals were Citilink flight QG 692 from Surabaya at 6:52 a.m. and Hong Kong Airlines flight HX 707 at 6:58 a.m. The first international departure was Hong Kong Airlines flight HX 706 to Hong Kong at 9 a.m., according to airport management. (en.antaranews.com) What changed after the reopening is not the airport’s status but the source of disruption. Travel updates this week said ash from Lewotobi Laki-Laki in East Flores has again pushed airlines to alter schedules for Bali when winds carry the plume across flight paths. (thetraveler.org 1) (thetraveler.org 2) That distinction matters for travelers because an “open” airport can still post “No operate” against individual flights. Ngurah Rai’s public arrivals board for April 11 showed some services marked “No operate” while others from Perth, Singapore, Melbourne, Brisbane and Abu Dhabi were still listed as landed or scheduled. (bali-airport.com) Volcanic ash is handled like an airborne hazard map, not a simple on-or-off switch. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology says ash advisories and SIGMETs are issued for aviation use, and flight planning relies on those warnings rather than ground conditions in Bali. (bom.gov.au) Lewotobi’s activity has been continuing for weeks. VolcanoDiscovery, citing Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, reported daily eruptive activity through at least March 25, with the alert level at Level 2 on Indonesia’s four-step scale. (volcanodiscovery.com) The same volcano disrupted Bali flights before. Reuters reported on June 18, 2025, that Lewotobi sent ash 11 kilometers high, several Bali flights were canceled or delayed, and authorities raised the volcano’s alert to the highest level at that time. (english.aawsat.com) For now, Bali’s runway is not the main question; the ash corridor is. As long as Lewotobi keeps erupting intermittently and winds keep shifting, Bali can stay open while airline timetables keep changing. (volcanodiscovery.com) (thetraveler.org)