The ash from Chilean volcano, Cordon Caulle that has been affecting flights in and out of Melbourne, Sydney, and Canberra is expected to clear today, with many operators anticipated to resume services gradually throughout the day.

However, more flight disruptions will affect Tasmania, with this area of the ash plume not expected to clear until early hours of tomorrow morning (Thursday).

Services to and from New Zealand will continue to be disrupted as the ash moves eastwards and spreads out over the Tasman Sea.

Airservices will work closely with airlines and airports over the coming days to assist them in returning to normal operations as soon as possible.

Airservices National Operations Centre in Canberra, together with meteorologists and the Bureau of Meteorology’s Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) in Darwin, have now been monitoring the movement of the ash plume for more than two weeks and will continue to do so.

A large body of ash from the original eruption of Cordón Caulle on 4 June remains to the south of Australia.

Airservices air traffic management surveillance systems and air traffic control operations are unaffected by the ash cloud and we are providing full services to all operating aircraft. No airspace has been closed as a result of the ash cloud.

Decisions on when and where flights will operate are made by individual airlines and operators, with monitoring by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

Virgin’s Pacific Blue, Qantas’ Jetstar cancel flights

Virgin Australia Group of Airlines international subsidiary, Pacific Blue, has suspended all services into and out of New Zealand today, 22 June 2011, until further notice because of the volcanic ash plume from Chilean volcano, Cordon Caulle.

“The latest forecast from the Bureau of Meteorology and the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre indicates the ash plume is moving eastward and is currently expected to be over both islands of New Zealand for at least the next 24 hours, preventing the operation of regular scheduled services,” the airline said.

“This includes all Trans-Tasman services and all services to and from the Pacific Islands from New Zealand.

“As a result, there are some flow on affects on Pacific Blue flights between Australia and the Pacific Islands.”

Meanwhile, Jetstar has advised that services to and from Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Newcastle will resume today but all flights to and from New Zealand (both domestic and trans tasman) will be cancelled for the remainder of today.

A further update will be provided later today.

The airline said it continues to closely monitor the situation and will provide further updates as information becomes available.

“Jetstar will be proactively contacting customers affected by cancelled flights via SMS or telephone,” it said.