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Wamena airport reopens
Wamena airport in Jayawijaya, Papua, reopened on Thursday after a temporary closure following an aircraft fire incident yesterday
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Wamena airport in Jayawijaya, Papua, reopened on Thursday after a temporary closure following an aircraft fire incident yesterday.
'The airport has reopened as of this morning; but its flight frequency, especially for cargo aircraft, is reduced because at the moment, the damaged aircraft is still on the airport's apron,' head of Wamena airport, Junikar Pankondo, told The Jakarta Post over the phone, on Thursday.
A British Aerospace 146-200 QT Trader cargo aircraft operated by Nusantara Air Charter (NAC) with flight code PK-JKC caught fire at the airport at noon local time on Wednesday. Two people suffered injuries in the incident.
An investigation conducted by the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) team on the causes of the incident is still ongoing.
'Four investigators of the KNKT team are still examining the causes of the aircraft fire. After the investigation is complete, NAC will be requested to remove the plane wreckage so that flight schedules can get back to normal,' said Junikar.
There are five cargo flights operating from Sentani airport in Jayapura to Wamena daily. Following the incident, the flight frequency has temporarily been reduced to a maximum of only three flights per day.
The passenger flight schedule is unaffected.
Junikar said there were four commercial flights from Sentani to Wamena. 'Only PT Trigana Air currently serves regular flights to Wamena,' he said.(asw/ebf)
