Ash from Chile’s volcanic eruptions prompted Australian airlines to ground some domestic services and flights to New Zealand yesterday, stranding tens of thousands of people after plumes drifted across the Pacific.
Strong winds have carried the ash clouds 9,400 kilometres across the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand since Chile’s Puyehue volcano erupted more than a week ago, and they are now entering Australian airspace.
National carrier Qantas cancelled all flights to and from the southeastern island of Tasmania and all flights to and from Christchurch, Queenstown and Wellington in neighbouring New Zealand. It later extended the groundings to all flights to and from the southern Australian city of Melbourne and those to and from New Zealand’s Auckland, affecting around 30,000 passengers in total.
No intercontinental flights were immediately hit as none were scheduled to land in Melbourne yesterday evening.
“We believe that it’s absolutely the right thing to ground these services. We will put them back up in the air as soon as possible but it’s a safety first approach for our customers,” Qantas spokesman Olivia Wirth told ABC radio.
Qantas said it had taken the precautionary measure until it knew more about the density of the cloud and its possible impact on aircraft.
The Australian Associated Press (AAP) news agency said Qantas would reassess the situation today.
The airline’s offshoot Jetstar has also grounded flights for Tasmania and New Zealand, as well as some flights within New Zealand.
Regional rival Virgin Australia said it was suspending all domestic and international flights to and from Melbourne from yesterday, after cancelling five flights between Australia and New Zealand earlier in the day.