Jakarta’s main hub and four others resume operations after forced closures
THE country has reopened its main airport in Jakarta and four others that had been closed due to volcanic ash from Mount Anak Krakatau, although fresh eruptions have raised the risk of further disruption.
Ash from Anak Krakatau, which sits halfway between Java and Sumatra islands, has blanketed Jakarta and some surrounding areas since its initial eruption late last Friday.
It led to the closure of eight airports for safety reasons, with more than 340,000 travellers impacted.
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta’s main airport, resumed operations yesterday after wind blew the ash away, Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said in a statement, adding that authorities would check the airworthiness of 178 planes that were grounded there during the closure.
“Perhaps it’ll take a little extra time to prepare the planes,” Dudy said.
Traveller Alvin Pratama Putra, 31, who had arrived at Soekarno-Hatta on Sunday for a flight to South Korea for work, said his flight had now been rescheduled to Thursday.
“What can you do? It’s nature. It’s dangerous for the plane if you force it,” he said, adding that he had been sleeping on a bench at the airport.
Four other airports, including a smaller one in Jakarta and another in the neighbouring city of Bandung, also reopened yesterday.
Another airport had already reopened on Monday, while two remain closed.
Bayu Sutanto, Secretary General of the Indonesia National Air Carriers Association, said the delays put strain on airlines’ finances, losing revenue from cancelled flights and facing higher operating expenses.
Bayu said airlines would have to incur various expenses such as extra fuel costs from route diversions, aircraft parking or crew- related costs, adding that a delay of one plane at Soekarno-Hatta could affect the next three or four flights using the same aircraft.
Airlines could lose up to 19 billion rupiah (RM4.35mil) a day during such a disruption, he said.
Anak Krakatau erupted again thrice yesterday morning, the volcano monitoring agency said.
While smaller than the earlier eruptions, there was still potential for flight disruption, depending on ash height and wind direction.
“So far, the impact is not as big as the previous eruptions, but we’ll continue to monitor,” Lana Saria, head of the geological agency, said in a text message.
The volcano is one of about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which straddles the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a highly seismically active zone where different plates on the Earth’s crust meet to create a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Other volcanoes, including Mount Ibu and Ili Lewotolok, both on islands east of Java, also erupted yesterday.
Anak Krakatau, which means child of Krakatau, began emerging a century ago from the area previously occupied by Krakatau, then known as Krakatoa.
The older volcano destroyed itself in mass eruptions in 1883, which killed more than 36,000 people after triggering a series of tsunamis. — Reuters
