Sudden and extreme rain squalls on Saturday, 28 December 2024, temporarily disrupted flight operations to and from Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS), starting in the morning and lasting until the afternoon.
Heavy rains drastically curtailed visibility to levels that were, from time to time, below the minimums required for safe flight operations, causing air traffic controllers to divert flights to alternate airports across the region momentarily.
Until 1:00 pm on Saturday, at least seven flights inbound to Bali were diverted. The General Manager of the I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, explained that five domestic and two international flights had to be diverted for flight safety reasons.
Domestic flights diverted during the period of poor weather were:
- Two Lion Air flights, Semerang-Bali and Yogyakarta-Bali, were diverted to Surabaya’s Juanda Airport.
- Three other flights were diverted to Lombok International Airport: Batik Air, flying Surabaya to Bali; Super Air Jet flying Surabaya to Bali; and Lion Air, flying Balikpapan to Bali.
Two international flights diverted on Saturday were:
- Malindo Air, flying from Melbourne to Bali, was diverted to Surabaya.
- Air Asia was flying from Perth to Bali and was diverted to Lombok.
Shahab said aircraft diversions to preserve flight safety are a standard international operating procedure. When these diversions occur, as on Saturday, 28 December, the schedule change was necessary when extremely heavy rains prevented pilots from having the minimum ground visibility needed for safe landing procedures.
The bad weather also prevented several domestic and international flights from meeting their scheduled departure times. From the morning until 3:00 pm local time, 10 domestic and four international flights were compelled to delay their scheduled take-off times between 60 and 120 minutes. Once the weather improved sufficiently, the delayed aircraft were cleared for take off.
With Bali now experiencing its seasonal “rainy season,” travelers are advised to monitor the weather and official online flight information.
Useful links on arriving and departing flights are provided below.
Related Links
Bali Rains To Persist Through January
Accu Weather Link for Denpasar, Bali
Bali Flight Arrivals (Continuous Update)
Bali Flight Departures (Continuous Update)
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