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Latest Travel Advice After Volcanic Eruption

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Indonesia and particularly Bali are ridiculously popular holiday destinations. However, the islands (of which there are about 17,500) are home to around 130 active volcanoes – it sits at the end of the Pacific Ring of Fire, after all – and while they’re what makes the landscape here so dramatic, it can pose problems for travel and safety. 

On November 3, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted and air travel to the nearby islands has been impacted ever since. So, if you have a trip booked to Bali sometime soon, here is everything you need to know before you travel. 

What’s happening in Bali?

Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a volcano on the Indonesian island of Flores, erupted on November 3 and has been periodically producing ash over the last week. On Tuesday alone, ash billowed out in 17 different bursts, the highest of these reaching approximately nine kilometres into the air. 

Is it safe to travel to Bali?

As a result of the hot ash produced by the volcano, 10 people have died and around 15,000 have been evacuated since November 3. The volcano erupted again in the early morning on Thursday November 14, and thick ash is still billowing from its crater. 

Officials who have journeyed back into the affected areas have so far uncovered large craters in several places and a school which had been destroyed. 

Are flights to Bali cancelled and when will they resume?

Flight disruptions were reported at Bali International Airport after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki’s continued eruption, and according to the Independent, thousands of passengers were stranded on yesterday (November 13) after nearly a dozen airlines grounded all flights scheduled to reach and depart from the Denpasar Airport in Bali. 

Two Korean Air Flights were forced to turn around because of the ash yesterday, and all flights to and from Lombok in the West Nusa Tenggara Province were cancelled. General Manager of Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport, Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, said 26 domestic and 64 overseas flights were cancelled, including ones from Singapore, Hong Kong, Qatar, India and Malaysia. 

However, today flights operated by airlines such as Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia resumed some of their services from Bali to Australia thanks to ‘improved’ conditions. If you’re about to fly to Bali, check for the latest information from your airline directly. 

What’s the foreign office saying?

The FCDO updated its travel advice yesterday, and there are several areas it strongly advises against travelling to. The page reads: ‘FCDO advises against all travel to within 7km of the crater of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara Province. This is an exclusion zone put in place by the local authorities. Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted on 3 November 2024.’

It also advises against all travel within 5km of the Mount Sinabung crater in Karo Regency, North Sumatra and within 3km of the crater of Mount Marapi in West Sumatra, which are both exclusion zones put in place by local authorities.

Read more about other areas the FCDO advises against travelling to in Indonesia here

What are your rights as a traveller?

Travelling to Bali has not explicitly been advised against, so to see if your trip can be cancelled or rearranged, you’ll need to check directly with your travel provider. If you enter one of the zones advised against by the FCDO, that can invalidate your travel insurance, but there’s no guarantee of a refund for your trip more generally. 

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Ebix Travel unveils e-Visa platform

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Ebix Travel, operating through Via.com (online) and Mercury Travels (offline), has launched its comprehensive Via e-Visa platform, designed to revolutionise the traditionally complex visa application process for travel partners and corporate clients across India.

The new platform at Via.com addresses critical pain points in the B2B travel industry by offering a centralised visa solution that eliminates physical paperwork and enables travel partners to manage visa applications from anywhere to deliver faster & more reliable services to their customers.

The Via e-Visa platform equips travel partners, and corporate clients with a streamlined solution to manage visa applications. By simplifying documentation, removing intermediaries, and enabling direct submissions to embassies and consulates, the platform not only reduces costs but also enhances speed, transparency, and customer trust—giving partners a stronger competitive edge.

The Via e-Visa platform covers visa applications for over 40 destinations spanning Asia, Africa, Europe, and beyond, including key markets such as Australia, Japan, the UAE, Russia, Kenya, Malaysia, Morocco, and Thailand. This extensive coverage has been carefully curated to meet the immediate needs of Indian travellers, with plans already underway to expand to more destinations based on market demand and evolving travel patterns.

Commenting on the launch, Ankur Sharmaa, Chief Business Officer, Via.com (Ebix Travel) said, The introduction of the Via e-Visa platform is a milestone moment for Ebix Travel and for the travel industry in India. By combining technology with our deep-rooted partner network, we are creating a scalable, transparent, and highly reliable solution that directly addresses one of the biggest pain points in international travel. This innovation is central to our vision of empowering our travel partners and corporate clients while making global mobility more accessible and efficient for millions of Indians.”



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Caravan 2025 Expands with AI-Powered Tri-City Showcase

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From Flyr’s launch to curated networking, TravClan’s boutique platform redefines the future of travel trade across Kolkata, Chennai, and Bengaluru.

Caravan 2025, the flagship B2B initiative by TravClan, has further solidified its position as India’s leading travel trade platform with a successful tri-city run across Kolkata, Chennai, and Bengaluru this September. Following its inaugural edition earlier in April, Caravan’s return in the second half of the year drew over 600 travel agents and 25+ top brands, signaling strong momentum for curated, tech-forward B2B engagement in the Indian travel ecosystem.

Held on 8th, 10th, and 12th September respectively, the three-city tour embraced the theme “Travel Meets the Future: Powered by AI, Driven by You,” anchoring discussions and product showcases around the role of technology in reshaping the way agents sell travel. A standout announcement during the event was the launch of Flyr, TravClan’s AI-driven tool that allows agents to instantly generate professional-grade marketing creatives, complete with itineraries and pricing. The solution is designed to bridge a major operational gap for small and mid-sized agents enabling faster client turnaround and better branding without heavy design support.

In addition to Flyr, Caravan spotlighted enhancements in AI-driven instant quoting tools and automation-led efficiency upgrades across TravClan’s platform positioning itself not just as a networking event, but a product-led innovation hub.
The boutique format of the event allowed brands to engage in deeper, one-on-one conversations with agents, collect live feedback, and introduce experiential segments such as wellness tourism and digital detox packages. For agents, particularly from non-metro and Tier 2 regions, Caravan offered critical access to trending global destinations like Dubai, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Bali, along with the confidence and content needed to convert those opportunities into bookings.

Chirag Agrawal, Co-founder of TravClan, noted, “Caravan is not about footfall; it’s about impact. Every session, every connection is intentional aimed at making the travel trade smarter, faster, and future-proof.”
With its latest edition marking its second successful outing in 2025, Caravan is poised to enter more regional markets over the coming months, reinforcing its role as the country’s most scalable and agile B2B travel ecosystem.
At Prittle Prattle News, we honor your dedication and inventiveness led by showcasing you in a positive light. Under the direction of Editor-in-Chief Smruti Bhalerao, our platform is committed to disseminating powerful narratives that raise awareness and motivate change. For more important stories, follow us on LinkedInInstagram, and YouTube.





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Thales signs maintenance contract with IndiGo

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Thales and IndiGo, India’s largest airline, have signed a strategic maintenance contract for the airline’s current fleet of 430 Airbus A320 aircraft and future order of over 800 A32X aircraft.

As part of this 11-year contract, Thales will provide IndiGo with expert repair services for avionics components, coupled with Thales’s ‘Avionics-By-The-Hour’ (ABTH) programme – a comprehensive spares management solution that ensures the availability of critical components to minimise aircraft downtime. This, together with Thales’s ‘Repair-By-The-Hour’ (RBTH), guarantees timely maintenance for avionics, allowing IndiGo to increase the availability of its fleet and expedite repairs.

Repairs will be managed notably at Thales’s new state-of-the-art avionics MRO facility in Gurugram, India, located near the Delhi airport, which is designed to handle the increasing demand for avionics support, featuring advanced technology to streamline repair processes and ensure high levels of fleet availability. Thales’s skilled technicians specialise in maintaining complex avionics systems with repairs that meet stringent safety and regulatory standards.

IndiGo has also extended a 5-year contract with AvioBook, a Thales company, for AvioBook Flight —the only Electronic Flight Bag solution currently authorised for paperless operations by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). In use across the entire IndiGo fleet for over a year, AvioBook Flight has already helped significantly reduce consumption of paper usage annually thereby advancing environmental sustainability goals and streamlining flight operations on over 2,000 flights every day.

“We are pleased to partner with Thales, a leading aerospace company trusted worldwide for its expertise in avionics support, to augment IndiGo’s maintenance and repairs capabilities. With IndiGo’s growing scale and fleet, this association aligns with our commitment to offer a hassle-free and safe flying experience to our customers, while ensuring operational excellence and reliability,” Parichay Datta, Senior Vice-President, Engineering, IndiGo.

“This strategic partnership with IndiGo underscores our commitment to delivering airline world-class avionics support and services. Our new MRO facility in India increases Thales’s ability to provide a swift, reliable service, backed by the power of our global organisation, to meet the evolving demands of the Indian aviation industry,” added Thomas Got, Vice President, Aviation Global Services, Thales.



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