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Jakarta Post

Airport resumes activity despite blackout

A fire in a neighborhood in Duri Kosambi, Tangerang, disrupted power supply to the country’s main gateway, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, for almost two hours on Monday afternoon

Nurfika Osman and Multa Fidrus (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta, tangerang
Tue, September 25, 2012 Published on Sep. 25, 2012 Published on 2012-09-25T10:16:31+07:00

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fire in a neighborhood in Duri Kosambi, Tangerang, disrupted power supply to the country’s main gateway, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, for almost two hours on Monday afternoon.

Salahudin Rafi, director for technical operations at state-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura said that the facility had started to noticeably lose power at 3:15 p.m. Total blackout only occurred for several seconds at 3:50 p.m. before the electrical power generators and the uninterruptible power supplies units were activated. The power was back on at 4:41 p.m.

“We did not encounter any problems in activities at the airport when we ceased to receive power from PLN [state electricity company] from 3 p.m. to 4:41 p.m. All take-offs and landings during that time went well,” AP II president director Tri Sunoko said in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post.

He added that check-ins, radar systems, communication and air traffic control systems at the airport were all running smoothly, as usual.

However, national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia’s vice president of communications Pujobroto said the power glitch affected seven domestic flights.

“The delays occurred because we had to wait for the electrical generators to work, returning to normal operation at 5 p.m.,” he said, adding that the airline had to manage baggage, cargo and refueling without its computing system.

Meanwhile, privately owned Sriwijaya Air’s senior corporate communications manager Agus Soedjono said the outage did not disturb the airline’s activity.

Kompas.com reported that some passengers found it difficult to get information on departure gates and transfers and airport staff resorted to shouting to inform passengers of boarding times.

Power glitches often affect the airport, resulting in flight delays. Tri Sunoko said in a statement that PLN currently supplied up to 35 mega volts amperes (MVA) daily from Batujaya main power station in Tangerang to the airport.

PLN is to boost its supply to 60 MVA by the end of 2014 in line with the airport expansion plan to increase its capacity from 22 million to 62 million passengers a year.

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