Ash from a Chilean volcano, which is streaming over Adelaide and Tasmania, has continued to disrupt airline services in Australia and New Zealand.

Qantas said today it will not operate services to and from Tasmania and New Zealand for the duration of Tuesday 14 June 2011 as a result of the ash cloud from Chile’s Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano.

Flights to and from Adelaide will remain suspended until 12:30pm local time. Flights to and from Melbourne are operating as scheduled.

The airline said it will continue to monitor the movement of the ash cloud and assess its impact on flight operations as the situation develops.

Passengers with bookings on cancelled services will be contacted and rebooked on alternative services. Qantas will seek to schedule supplementary services to help clear the backlog.

Jetstar cancels Aussie, NZ flights

As a Qantas Group airline, Jetstar like Qantas has in place the same monitoring and assessment processes. The budget airline has cancelled Adelaide flying services until 12:30 p.m. Tasmania flying services were cancelled (Hobart and Launceston) until 1:00 p.m., with a further update on afternoon operations at 1:00 p.m. today.

In addition, all trans Tasman and New Zealand domestic flights, excluding Auckland evening flights which are still under assessment, have been cancelled for the remainder of the day. Auckland flights this morning and afternoon have been cancelled, with a further update on evening services only to be provided at 1pm today14 June 2011.

Jetstar said it continues to review the status of its operations to affected ports.

“We continue to review the situation and should future flights be affected we will notify passengers directly.”

The airline said it is liaising with affected passengers and offering them defer travel, re-routing and full refund or voucher.

Virgin Australia flights as usual today

Meanwhile, the Virgin Australian Group of Airlines will operate normal scheduled services today.

Virgin Australia Group Executive Sean Donohue said the Group’s Volcanic Ash Management Team will remain activated while there continues to be any potential for flight disruption.

“Our Volcanic Ash Management Team continues to work closely with the Bureau of Meteorology and the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in order to ensure determinations regarding our fleet operations are made on accurate and up to the minute data, as safety is always our highest priority,” Mr Donohue said.

Virgin said the majority of guests whose travel plans were disrupted during the past 48 hours have been provided alternative flights, with a small backlog of remaining guests expected to be provided alternative flights today.

Additional flights will be implemented between Sydney and Melbourne and Melbourne and Hobart to carry impacted guests.