KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 214 flights to and from Sabah and Sarawak had been cancelled following the volcanic eruption of Mount Ruang in Indonesia last Tuesday.
The Transport Ministry said the flight cancellations affected 33,864 passengers on Thursday and Friday.
It was feared that thick ash had surrounded the airspace, forcing four airlines to temporarily cancel their flights. These airlines are Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Batik Air and Firefly.
Airlines tried to restore flight operations yesterday, but did not do so after taking into account the weather conditions and operational safety.
Mount Ruang in North Sulawesi has erupted six times since last Tuesday, sending plumes of smoke as high as 3,000m.
Several locations on nearby islands have reported experiencing volcanic ash rain.
The eruption forced thousands of nearby residents to evacuate as lava flowed into their villages, with the volcano spewing ash several hours later.