(Sept 6): Indonesia halted flights at several airports including Jakarta’s main gateway after ash from Mount Anak Krakatau spread across Java and Sumatra, with further disruptions possible as eruptions continue.
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport will be closed until 5:30pm local time, state-owned operator InJourney Airports said in an update on Sunday. Lampung’s Radin Inten II airport is due to remain closed until 6pm.
Several other airports around Jakarta and in West Java were temporarily closed, with flight disruptions spreading across Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan islands, Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said at a briefing. President Prabowo Subianto is monitoring the situation and its potential impact, Government Communication Agency head Muhammad Qodari said at the same briefing.
An early tally from the ministry’s aviation division showed 373 flights and nearly 23,000 passengers were affected by the disruptions. Totals could climb as the shutdown continues and airlines revise their schedules.
Soekarno-Hatta is the main international gateway to Southeast Asia’s largest economy and the center of air travel across Indonesia’s sprawling archipelago. A prolonged shutdown would strand tens of thousands of passengers and cause delays and cancellations across regional and long-haul routes.
Lion Air Group has so far reported 305 domestic and international cancellations, while Garuda Indonesia and AirAsia Indonesia adjusted services to and from Jakarta.
Regional carriers pulled flights as well. Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Royal Brunei Airlines cancelled a combined 33 services, while Cathay Pacific offered affected passengers free rebooking, rerouting and refunds.
Anak Krakatau, located in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra, has been active since early July, with eruptions intensifying Friday night, Kompas.com reported. Ash was detected over parts of Jakarta, Banten and West Java as of 2pm Sunday, as well as areas around Lampung, Bengkulu and South Sumatra, according to the weather agency’s website.
Continuing tremors mean the volcano’s activity could fluctuate or intensify, though the timing and scale of future eruptions cannot be predicted, said Lana Saria, head of geological agency at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, in a separate briefing. The latest activity points to a continuing supply of gas and magma, but frequent eruptions do not necessarily signal that a larger one is coming, she added.
A flank collapse at Anak Krakatau likely triggered a tsunami in 2018 that killed more than 400 people and injured over 1,000 residents and holidaymakers in Lampung and Banten.
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