Qantas has been lending a helping hand to subsidiary Jetstar to fly stranded Bali holidaymakers back to Australia.
The carrier sent two empty Boeing 737 aircraft to Bali to fly passengers back to Perth while jetstar itself flew about 2,000 travellers back to Australia on Tuesday.
Jetstar said it has scheduled another 19 services for Wednesday to bring back another 3,000.
"That will be 13 services more than we normally have back into Australia," said Jetstar Australia and New Zealand chief executive officer David Hall.
Favourable wind conditions allowed the flights to take off from Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport yesterday but the still smoking Mt Raung volcano could cause yet more travel chaos if winds change direction again.
"Volcanoes are unpredictable and it’s very hard to say when eruptions might stop," said meteorologist Stephanie Bond.
Virgin Australia also plans more than a dozen flights on Wednesday.
Virgin spokeswoman Danielle Keighery said there are about 4,000 customers still stranded in Bali.
"It will take a few days to clear the backlog if we have favourable conditions," Keighery said.
