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Volcanic ash disrupts flights to Indonesia
Next flight: Passengers enter a terminal as an information screen shows canceled international flights at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Saturday
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span class="inline inline-right">Next flight: Passengers enter a terminal as an information screen shows canceled international flights at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Saturday. AP
International airlines have suspended flights to and from Indonesia because of intensified volcanic activity on Mount Merapi near Yogyakarta, 550 kilometers southeast of Jakarta.
The cancellations affected flights on Saturday, and the ban will extend to today.
Airlines that canceled flights include Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Japan Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Value Air, Turkish Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, Tiger Airways, Eva Air and Etihad.
Hari Cahyono, the corporate secretary of PT Angkasa Pura II, the operator of Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, said 13 foreign airlines canceled flights that were scheduled to depart Saturday evening, news portal kompas.com reported.
The eruptions, which began Oct. 26, have disrupted flights not only in cities close to the volcano such as Yogyakarta and Surakarta, but also Soekarno-Hatta airport.
The volcanic ash has blown west, reaching as far as the West Java capital of Bandung, which is 400 kilometers away.
Apart from causing poor visibility, airborne volcanic ash poses a danger to to aircraft engines.
Singapore Airlines said on its website that its eight flights between Singapore’s Changi and Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta on Saturday and Sunday were temporarily suspended.
Emirates offered its passengers — both in Jakarta and Dubai — hotel accommodation.
Cathay Pacific’s flights to and from Hong Kong were also called off, while Malaysia Airlines said its seven flights between Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Bandung on Saturday and Sunday had been disrupted.
“We will only be able to confirm the flight schedules once the situation has improved. We will continue to monitor the situation closely,” Malaysia Airlines operations director Capt. Azharuddin Osman said in a statement.
Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, however, continues to serve international routes out of
Jakarta.
“We have been continuously monitoring the condition at Soekarno-Hatta. As long as the aviation authority does not notify us that the airport is affected by volcanic ash, Garuda will serve international flights,” company spokesman Pujobroto told The Jakarta Post.
AirAsia, meanwhile, canceled 11 flights on Saturday, both domestic and international. The budget airline has grounded flights between Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Denpasar.
