All civilian flights from the Abdurahman Saleh Airbase in Malang have been stopped indefinitely due to the discovery of 133 spots of peeling or perforation on the runway.
The damages, which were reported by a verification team from the Directorate General of Air Transportation, were said to have been evenly distributed along the 1,980 meter-long and 40-meters-wide runway, which they feared would endanger any civilian flights using jet machines.
Airbase's operational division head Col. Eko Dono Indarto confirmed the verification result but claimed the conditions would not disturb military flights.
"We are still conducting our routine activities using both the Hercules C-130 and Cassa 212 aircrafts," Eko Dono told The Jakarta Post.
Due to the reported damage, at least five civilian flights have been called off per day. They all served the Malang-Jakarta route and were operated by Garuda Indonesia, Batavia Air and Sriwijaya Air.
Eko Dono said that all military aircrafts had been designed for unprepared runways for landing and take off, and that runways considered dangerous for civilian flights might not hamper military ones.
Garuda Indonesia's sales and service supervisor for the Malang region, Kemas Nurmadia, said the flight cancellations have caused financial and non-financial losses to his company.
"The most damage has been done to the company's good image. The uncertainty will surely diminish the customer's trust," he said.
Financially, he added, the ban had caused the company lose out on the potential of accommodating 90 percent of the Boeing 737-300 flight's capacity of 110 seats.
Garuda Indonesia's district manager Dharmawan Yuliardi Hendrata expressed hope that the company could resume flights within a week after the closure.
Similar hope was also expressed by Sriwijaya Air's district manager Muhammad Yusri Hansyah, who argued the closure was announced too suddenly and feared it would discourage its customers from flying to Jakarta from Malang.
"But we understand that the closure was made for safety reasons," he added.
Malang regency Tranportation, Communication and Informatics Agency Head Soefianto said that reports on the damage at the runway were first received on Oct. 7 and then followed up by the Directorate General of Air Transportation by sending a verification team, which finally resulted in the closure of the airbase for civilian flights.
The Greater Malang (Malang municipality, Malang regency and Batu municipality) administration are currently coordinating with related institutions to discuss how to mend the damage and where to find funding.
"Technically it is under the authority of the Directorate General of Air Tranportation," Soefianto said.
