Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia have resumed most domestic flights out southeastern Australia this afternoon, as the troublesome ash cloud from Chile’s Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano makes its way towards New Zealand.
Qantas has resumed flights to and from Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, while continuing to suspend flights to and from Tasmania. Services to and from Adelaide are due to restart at 5pm.
Jetstar has largely followed suit with services to and from Melbourne (Tullamarine and Avalon), Sydney, Newcastle and Adelaide resuming, though Tasmania also remains a no-go zone. Both airlines have cancelled all flights to and from New Zealand.
Virgin has also recommenced services to major capital cities and other destinations including Adelaide, Melbourne, Newcastle, Albury, Canberra, Sydney and Coffs Harbour. However, New Zealand subsidiary Pacific Blue has suspended all trans-Tasman flights until further notice.
And Tiger has resumed some afternoon services but still pre-emptively cancelled a number of flights throughout the day along with most other major airlines.
Meanwhile, Air New Zealand has so far kept all of its domestic and trans-Tasman services open.
Widespread flight cancellations over the past few days due to the return of the ash cloud mean airlines will have an extensive backlog of passengers to clear after the recent spate of disruptions. Airservices Australia has warned that flight disruptions will continue to affect Tasmania, with the ash plume is not expect to clear there until early tommorow morning.
