Lombok airport closed, flights disrupted due to Mount Rinjani volcanic ash

A number of flights between Australia and Bali have been cancelled, with volcanic ash from Mount Rinjani again sparking safety concerns.

Perth Airport issued a warning to travellers that other flights may also be cancelled due to the ash cloud.

Virgin, meanwhile, has cancelled all flights in and out of Bali as a result of the cloud.

Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj told Parliament she was sending a junior minister to Riyadh after reports that around 10,000 workers had lost their jobs and been left to starve.

Jetstar said it had two flights return to Australia after conditions changed during the flight, without saying which flights had been affected.

Volcanic ash is seen during an eruption inside the crater of Mount Rinjani on the Indonesian island of Lombok on Oct 25, 2015.

AirAsia flight QZ545 to Denpasar, scheduled to leave Perth Airport at 5:30pm was listed as “delayed” on the airport’s website with an estimated departure time of 5:45pm.

Thirteen of the domestic and global flights disrupted due to the eruption were meant to take off from or land in Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport, Antara News quoted the airport’s general manager Trikora Harjo as saying.

Eruptions at the 3,726m volcano last November similarly led to temporary closure of the airport.