Airport chaos from Heathrow to Bali

From London to Denpasar, flights around the world are being delayed and rescheduled.

London Heathrow Airport (above) will be closed all day Friday as emergency services deal with a significant fire in the vicinity, local media reported.

All flights in and out have been cancelled or diverted after a fire at a nearby substation caused a major power outage.

In Bali, meanwhile, flights have been cancelled due to a volcano erupting.

"Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for further information. We apologise for the inconvenience," Heathrow Airport said on Facebook.

At least 120 flights bound for Heathrow have been diverted, flight tracking website FlightRadar24 recorded.

Flights were to land at nearby airports, including Gatwick.

Meanwhile, travellers have been stranded after flights to and from Bali were cancelled and delayed due to volcanic ash caused by the eruption of Mount Lewotobi on the south-eastern part of the remote Indonesian island of Flores.

The volcano was sending rocks, lava and ash about nine kilometres into the sky, Indonesia's Centre for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said.

Visitors and tourists were ordered to maintain an eight-kilometre distance from the volcano.

There is also a threat of rain-induced lava floods in rivers that originate at the mountain's peak. 

As of Friday morning "several international flights had been cancelled, six of them Jetstar flights bound to Australia and one Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur,” Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport spokesperson, Andadina Dyah, said in a statement.

Several other flights - domestic and international and including to Thailand, Singapore and Australia - had been delayed.

Explosive times in Hawaii as volcano eruption begins

The Mauna Loa volcano on Hawai‘i Island has begun to erupt.

The lava currently contained within the summit caldera at the top of the 4170-metre volcano. Hawaii Tourism reports.

The situation is being closely monitored around the clock by scientists from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency, which are providing regular updates.

The last time Mauna Loa erupted was 38 years ago in 1984. The island’s most recent eruption took place in 2018 when Kīlauea Volcano erupted, and lava flowed for several months.

There is currently no lava flow down the slopes of Mauna Loa and no danger to residents or communities on Hawai‘i Island right now.

Local officials says there is no need for tourists to change travel plans to any of the Hawaiian Islands at this time.

But residents and visitors staying in communities downslope of Mauna Loa have been told to have emergency preparedness plans ready in the event an evacuation becomes necessary

People who suffer from asthma, emphysema, COPD, or other types of breathing problems have been warned to take precautions to avoid the ash and vog (volcanic fog) that are characteristic of volcanic eruptions.

Mauna Loa is located on Hawai‘i Island, the southernmost island of the main island chain. Travel to the other islands - Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Maui, Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i - is unaffected by the eruption.

Hawai‘i Island’s two major airports in Hilo and Kona are currently open and the eruption is not expected to affect their ability to handle the regularly scheduled flights that arrive and depart each day.

But tourists are advised to check with their your airline for the status of their flight.

For information you check out these websites:

https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo, https://dod.hawaii.gov/hiema/ and https://www.hawaiicounty.gov/departments/civil-defense