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Palu airport opens 24 hours for relief flights
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Thousands of local residents surround a Hercules aircraft on Monday at Mutiara SIS Al-Jufri Airport in Palu, Central Sulawesi. The airport has commenced 24-hour relief operations on Tuesday to support post-disaster humanitarian efforts. (The Jakarta Post/Andi Hajramurni)
M
utiara SIS Al-Jufri Airport in the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu has commenced 24-hour operations on Tuesday for relief flights transporting search and rescue (SAR) personnel and badly needed humanitarian aid for the victims of the Sept. 28 earthquake and tsunami in the region.
The airport was maintaining normal operating hours for commercial flights from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., the spokesman of state-owned flight navigation services operator AirNav Indonesia, Yohanes Sirait, said in a press statement on Tuesday.
“AirNav has issued Airmen Notification (NOTAM) No. H0913/18 on the operational hours of Mutiara Sis Al Jufri Airport,” he said.
Yohanes said an AirNav technical team had restored essential navigation facilities in Palu over the last two days, including the Doppler VHF Omni Directional Range (DVor) and distance measuring equipment (DME).
The team had also increased the reach of very high frequency (VHF) ground-to-air communications equipment up to a height of 40 nautical miles, he said, adding that the communications network between Palu and the Makassar Air Traffic Service Center had also been restored.
“With these successes, the navigation equipment have resumed normal operations. Meanwhile, the runway lights are [now working] again, so night flights can also resume,” he added.
He added that electricity to the navigation equipment was currently being supplied by generators and that the airport urgently needed a constant fuel supply to support its 24-hour relief operation. (bbn)
