Five airports in Indonesia have closed, including one on the popular resort island of Bali, because of ash spewing from a nearby volcano, officials said Friday.Mount Raung in East Java has been spewing ash into the air for nearly a week obscuring visibility at Bali's Denpasar airport.
For a second day, many flights between Bali and Australia have been cancelled, stranding travellers.
The island is a top holiday destination for Australians.
A spokesperson for state airport operator Angkasa Pura said Indonesian that Denpasar would be closed until at least 21:30 local time (13:30 GMT).
The eruption from Mount Raung at the eastern end of the island of Java has shut down operations at Denpasar, Lombok, Banyuwangi and Jember airports, according to a post on Twitter by Garuda Indonesia, the county's national airline.
The decision to close the airports was taken on advice from Indonesia's climatology, meteorology and geophysics agency, said Ida Bagus Juliatnyana, a spokesman for the national airport authority.
On Friday, both Jetstar and Virgin Australia cancelled all flights in and out of Denpasar Airport.
In a statement, Jetstar, which was forced to cancel flights between Australia and Bali last week as well, said it would closely monitor the ash cloud and add flights to get people home.
"Like we did last week, Jetstar plans to schedule additional flights to and from Bali over the coming days, subject to flying conditions, to get travellers moving as soon as possible."
However Indonesian transport ministry official JA Barata said the re-opening of the airports would be based on Mount Raung's activity.
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