Qantas' budget carrier Jetstar left up to 4,000 passengers stranded in Bali after series of flight cancellations, reports say

• Jetstar passengers have been stranded in Bali after a series of flight cancellations.
• Australian media reported that as many as 4,000 passengers were stranded.

An Australian airline has left hundreds of passengers stranded in Bali, some for nearly a week, after a series of setbacks to its fleet of Boeing 787 jets.

Jetstar, owned by Qantas, has canceled eight flights between Bali, an island in Indonesia, and the Australian cities Melbourne and Sydney, since September 1, a person familiar with the matter told Insider.

Australian media reported that as many as 4,000 Jetstar passengers were stranded in Bali. A Jetstar spokesperson declined to comment on the figure to Insider but said "the remaining 200 or so impacted passengers" were awaiting flights home.

The spokesperson said the cancellations were due to various problems with Jetstar aircraft.

"Unfortunately, our Boeing 787 fleet has been impacted by a number of issues, including a lightning strike, a bird strike, damage from an item on the runway, and delays sourcing a specific spare part for one of our aircraft due to global supply chain challenges," the spokesperson said.

The airline has arranged for five flights to pick up the stranded passengers, and seats on Qantas flights will also be available, the spokesperson added.

Jetstar has apologized to affected passengers for the disruption, the spokesperson said, adding that the airline has offered them refunds or flight credit.

Dominic Buick, an affected passenger who was due to fly home on Wednesday, on Monday told Melbourne radio station 3AW he's still stuck in Bali after his flight was canceled due to engineering issues.

Jetstar last week booked Buick and his family on replacement flights home but the airline went to on cancel both for the same reason, he told 3AW.

He said he'd been scheduled on a Jetstar flight home this Friday but told 3AW he couldn't risk the airline canceling again, so he'd booked his own flights on Virgin Atlantic, costing him 900 Australian dollars per family member.

Michelle Gill, another Jetstar passenger stranded in Bali, told 3AW she was supposed to fly back to Australia on Thursday but her flight was canceled, adding: "Our flight has been cancelled again for the second time and we're due to fly home tomorrow at 10 p.m. but we're not feeling very confident.

The disruption to Jetstar's flights comes at a time when the understaffed airline industry is trying to cope with high post-pandemic travel demand. These staffing issues have led to flight cancellations, delays, and crews timing out.

Passengers have shared their nightmare travel stories of lost luggage, being stuck abroad, and being booked on different flights back home.