AirAsia announces flight cancellations to/from East Malaysia due to safety concerns from Mount Ruang eruption

SEPANG, April 18, 2024 -- Following the eruption of Mount Ruang in the Indonesian Sulawesi Islands, which has resulted in extensive volcanic ash clouds affecting airspace and visibility in the region, Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) recognised this as a serious threat to aircraft safety and airline passengers.

As this volcanic eruption has caused a massive disruption to the airline operations and to protect the safety of its guests and aircraft, AirAsia is cancelling flights to and from several destinations consistent with CAAM Safety Information 09/2024 published at 11:50am.

Flights to and from nine airports including Kota Kinabalu, Tawau, Sandakan, Labuan, Miri, Sibu, Bintulu, Kuching and Brunei will be affected by the cancellation starting today, 18 April 2024 at 10:00 am until 19 April 2024 at 8:00 am.

AirAsia is committed to prioritising safety during this time and has notified all guests affected by the cancellations. Guests who are travelling to/from the affected destinations are encouraged to check their registered email and mobile phones for cancellation notifications.

AirAsia guests travelling to/from the affected destinations can check their latest flight status at airasia.com/flightstatus.

Bo Lingam, Group CEO of AirAsia Aviation Group said: “We understand that this may cause inconvenience to our guests and we apologise for the disruption to their travel plans. However, the safety of our guests and crew is paramount and we appreciate our guests’ understanding and cooperation during this time. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and work with relevant authorities including CAAM to assess the conditions for resuming operations to affected destinations. We are dedicating all senior executives and resources on the ground to ensure the safety of our guests and aircraft amidst these circumstances, and we thank all of our guests for their continued support and patience during this time.”

In light of this weather event, AirAsia is making the following options available to guests whose flights have been cancelled:

1. Move Flight: One-time change to any new travel date within 30 days from the original departure date on the same route without additional cost and subject to seat availability; OR
2. Credit Account: Retain the value of the flight booking in the guest’s airasia Rewards member account for future travel with AirAsia to be redeemed within 730 calendar days (2 years) from the issuance date. The travel date of the new booking can fall on any date within the published flight schedule on airasia.com

Guests who wish to make booking changes online may do so at airasia.com or AirAsia MOVE (previously known as airasia Superapp). From the categories available, click on “Booking Changes” then “Flight Change” and finally “My flight was changed by AirAsia.” From there, simply follow the instructions to make changes to your booking.

Follow AirAsia on social media @airasia on X and @flyairasia on Instagram or contact our customer support team at support.airasia.com or refer to our Travel Advisory for the latest updates.

If you detect any issues, problems, or errors in this press release content, kindly contact [email protected] to notify us (it is important to note that this email is the authorized channel for such matters, sending multiple emails to multiple addresses does not necessarily help expedite your request). We will respond and rectify the situation in the next 8 hours.