DRW Closed By Volcanic Ash

trent1000 · Sat May 31, 2014 12:43 am

All flights cancelled Saturday until whenever the ash poses less threat. Ash is coming from an eruption on Friday of Sangaeng Api volcano, Indonesia.

Possible impact on other routes to/from Asia and Australia?

http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel...o-sky/story-fnizu68q-1226938123744

xiaotung · Sat May 31, 2014 12:58 am

Why are DPS flights not affected? I would have thought DPS-Australia routes would be the first ones affected.

777Jet · Sat May 31, 2014 1:03 am

I doubt this will reach the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull level

AngMoh · Sat May 31, 2014 1:39 am

Quoting xiaotung (Reply 1):

Why are DPS flights not affected? I would have thought DPS-Australia routes would be the first ones affected.

I don't understand why DRW is closed right now. It is at least 1000-1500km away from the volcano and the eruption happened about 15 hours ago. It is just not possible to be seriously affected right now.

Just relative: my brother-in-law was in Bandung earlier this year when Mt Kelud erupted. Have a look at the photographs:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-1...tion-as-mount-kelud-erupts/5260134

The airport was closed. But 2-3 days after these photographs were taken, operations were starting again. He took the train back to Jakarta but if he just waited 12 hours he could have flown back (Garuda) and arrived earlier.
Bali & Lombok airports never closed even though they were nearby. Jetstar, Virgin and QF cancelled all flights to Bali while most Asian airlines continued to fly.

Earlier this year there was also a major eruption in Sumatra and there was no major impact other than some rerouting of flights. That eruptions was closer to KL and SIN than this one is to DRW and more severe and longer in duration.

Quoting 777Jet (Reply 2):

I doubt this will reach the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull level

That one was just idiotic. A clear blue sky and then all airspace closed. With the same attitude Indonesian airspace would probably be closed all year round.

afterburner · Sat May 31, 2014 1:44 am

Information from Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre: http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDD65290.shtml

BHMNONREV · Sat May 31, 2014 6:46 am

Quoting AngMoh (Reply 3):
I don't understand why DRW is closed right now. It is at least 1000-1500km away from the volcano and the eruption happened about 15 hours ago. It is just not possible to be seriously affected right now.

Neither do I. We received an alert from our HR department this morning informing of all the cancellations, save for Perth then an hour later Perth was gone too. While the reports say there is very fine ash in the atmosphere it is not enough to affect air quality.

Guess they are just erring on the side of caution, but several thousand are affected and the Darwin terminal looks like a homeless shelter right now..lol

RickNRoll · Sat May 31, 2014 7:06 am

Quoting BHMNONREV (Reply 5):
Neither do I. We received an alert from our HR department this morning informing of all the cancellations, save for Perth then an hour later Perth was gone too. While the reports say there is very fine ash in the atmosphere it is not enough to affect air quality

It's the very fine ash that is enough to wreck an engine. They can't predict exactly where the ash will go, it is moving at 150kts, apparently. DRW is a long way from anywhere if you are flying from most Australian airports, so by the time you are arriving, if the airport is closed, diversions will be to somewhere small in the middle of nowhere.

BHMNONREV · Sat May 31, 2014 7:43 am

Quoting RickNRoll (Reply 6):
DRW is a long way from anywhere if you are flying from most Australian airports

Good point...

melpax · Sat May 31, 2014 10:43 am

Have a friend stuck up in Darwin at the moment - not able to fly back down to MEL until Tuesday at the earliest. Ironically her brother is also stuck in Bali! The rental car agencies in Darwin must be making a killing with people driving to Alice to catch urgent flights.

http://www.theage.com.au/travel/trav...volcano-erupts-20140531-39ang.html

RyanairGuru · Sat May 31, 2014 10:47 am

Quoting melpax (Reply 8):
The rental car agencies in Darwin must be making a killing with people driving to Alice to catch urgent flights.

Unless you tag-team the driving and don't stop longer than to go to the toilet (in which case you might be able to do it in 20 hours), that drive is realistically 2 full days with only one driver. They'd be better off waiting!

6thfreedom · Sat May 31, 2014 11:07 am

Quoting melpax (Reply 8):
Have a friend stuck up in Darwin at the moment - not able to fly back down to MEL until Tuesday at the earliest. Ironically her brother is also stuck in Bali! The rental car agencies in Darwin must be making a killing with people driving to Alice to catch urgent flights.

I think QF is looking at closing off alice springs flights for tomorrow also, so unlikely this will happen.

mandala499 · Sat May 31, 2014 11:10 am

Quoting xiaotung (Reply 1):
Why are DPS flights not affected? I would have thought DPS-Australia routes would be the first ones affected.

DPS-PER isn't in the path of the ash. The dispersal projection have it move as far south west as Curtin, but not affect the flights DPS-Australia except for DPS-DRW. DPS-BNE was routed through Curtin then waypoint to waypoint until an airway clear of the ash projection. DPS-SYD/MEL/ADL would be less affected.

Quoting AngMoh (Reply 3):
Just relative: my brother-in-law was in Bandung earlier this year when Mt Kelud erupted. Have a look at the photographs:

That photo of the Citilink A320 was not in Bandung though, that photo is from JOG airport, much nearer to Mt. Kelud than BDO.

Quoting AngMoh (Reply 3):
The airport was closed. But 2-3 days after these photographs were taken, operations were starting again. He took the train back to Jakarta but if he just waited 12 hours he could have flown back (Garuda) and arrived earlier.
Bali & Lombok airports never closed even though they were nearby. Jetstar, Virgin and QF cancelled all flights to Bali while most Asian airlines continued to fly.

Bandung got off lightly.
The winds were going to the west at that time, so Bali and Lombok was untouched. Jetstar, Virgin, QF cancelled on one occasion where the projected dispersal of the ash would affect Bali and Lombok.
I myself was caught in SIN during that time, my flight was cancelled just as we were to board, as the projected ash dispersal said it would have been over Jakarta all of a sudden in one of the periodic ashtam updates. This prompted inspection of inbound aircraft (which was what Mandala did and Air Asia did, Garuda, SQ, and even Jetstar, went ahead), upon confirming there was no ash on the aircraft that had "inadvertently entered the dispersion zone" thanks to the update, cancelled flights were reinstated the best they could. It was a very long day for me.

Quoting AngMoh (Reply 3):
Earlier this year there was also a major eruption in Sumatra and there was no major impact other than some rerouting of flights. That eruptions was closer to KL and SIN than this one is to DRW and more severe and longer in duration.

That's Sinabung? That's been on and off for the past year or so... or longer, but no, the eruptions are not huge. The Volcanic Advisories never projected the ash reaching Medan except for some of the eruptions and that was for very short periods of time.

Quoting RickNRoll (Reply 6):
It's the very fine ash that is enough to wreck an engine. They can't predict exactly where the ash will go, it is moving at 150kts, apparently. DRW is a long way from anywhere if you are flying from most Australian airports, so by the time you are arriving, if the airport is closed, diversions will be to somewhere small in the middle of nowhere.

There are a few volcanoes on alert status at the moment. Last week I had to issue a circular to my workplace regarding aircraft mobilization (for periodic deployment) to airports within 30NM of a volcano on Level 3 and 4 alerts.
With this Sangeang, it's still a code red, so the Ashtams are not to be taken lightly for the moment. Some companies actually (and irresponsibly, in my opinion) disregards ashtams on code orange post eruption...

xiaotung · Sat May 31, 2014 12:48 pm

Quoting mandala499 (Reply 11):
DPS-PER isn't in the path of the ash. The dispersal projection have it move as far south west as Curtin, but not affect the flights DPS-Australia except for DPS-DRW. DPS-BNE was routed through Curtin then waypoint to waypoint until an airway clear of the ash projection. DPS-SYD/MEL/ADL would be less affected.

It looks like all flights into and out of DPS Saturday evening have been either cancelled or delayed to Sunday morning at this stage.

mandala499 · Sat May 31, 2014 2:53 pm

Quoting xiaotung (Reply 12):
It looks like all flights into and out of DPS Saturday evening have been either cancelled or delayed to Sunday morning at this stage.

Domestic flights to DPS from outside the projected ash dispersion zones, are proceeding as normal. Same with the Intl flights non-Australia.

The usual South East Asia - east coast Australia flights are happening but taking the routes further west, avoiding DPS-Curtin corridor... going via overhead Port Headland instead.

A333MSPtoAMS · Sat May 31, 2014 3:32 pm

Quoting 777Jet (Reply 2):

I doubt this will reach the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull level

I hope not. I remember being stranded in Istanbul an extra week while they were sorting this out. It may seem like not a bad thing, but when most of the hotels are booked full it got really hard to find places to stay (as I had just flown in from Mardin in the far eastern part of Turkey)... fortunately, it all worked out and I got an extra week of vacation added on (4 weeks in Turkey, not so bad

)

Quoting RyanairGuru (Reply 9):
Unless you tag-team the driving and don't stop longer than to go to the toilet (in which case you might be able to do it in 20 hours), that drive is realistically 2 full days with only one driver. They'd be better off waiting!

and it is one of THE most boring rides I have ever done. Outside of Devils Marbles and Katherine Gorge, that ride is absolutely horrid... nary a kangaroo in sight.

prosa · Sat May 31, 2014 5:06 pm

Quoting 777Jet (Reply 2):
I doubt this will reach the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull level

There'll certainly be one difference. While "Sangaeng Api" may not roll smoothly off the tongue, at least it's somewhat less impossible to pronounce

DRW Closed By Volcanic Ash

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