Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Flights to and from Indonesian tourist island Bali are set to resume on Tuesday after three Australian airlines determined ash from Indonesia's Mount Rinjani will not threaten daytime flying.

Virgin Australia, Singapore Airline's low-cost subsidiary Tigerair and Qantas subsidiary Jetstar will resume flights to the tourist destination after flights were cancelled overnight due to the Mount Rinjani eruption on nearby Lombok Island.

"We'll continue to assess conditions throughout the day but currently expect all services to operate for the rest of the day," Jetstar said in a statement.

A Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Denpasar was forced to turn around mid-flight overnight, while flights from its competitors departing from other capital cities to the key holiday destination were cancelled.

Tigerair said its flights from Melbourne would operate as per schedule on Tuesday. However, its flight from Perth in Western Australia is under review.

"Safety always comes before schedule and we will continue to work closely with the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (in Darwin) to monitor the situation throughout the day," Tigerair said in a statement.

The Indonesian island of Bali is one of Australia's most popular holiday destinations, however travel plans are intermittently affected by nearby volcanic eruptions.

 In July 2015, Australian airlines were forced to cancel flights to and from the holiday destination for nearly two weeks after ash from the Mount Ruang volcano on the island of Java, 150 km west of Denpasar, drifted towards the airport.

In a worst case scenario, volcanic ash can shut down a plane engine. In a best case scenario, volcanic ash can do damage to vital systems and the airframe when planes come into contact with ash clouds.

Source:
courtesy of XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

by Xinhua News Agency

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