Flights from Jambi, Palembang canceled due to haze

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Monday October 13 2014


The Transportation Ministry said that a number of flights from and to Sultan Thaha Airport in Jambi and Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport in South Sumatra on Monday were cancelled due to haze.

“Airlines like Garuda Indonesia, Citilink, Lion Air, and Sriwijaya Air have officially informed [state-run airport operator] Angkasa Pura II that they will cancel all of their flights from and to Sultan Thaha Airport today,” the ministry’s spokesman, J.A Barata,told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

He said that only two local flights operated by Susi Air from Jambi to Dabo in the Riau Islands and Muaro Bungo in the Bungo region of Jambi province were able to take off from Sultan Thaha Airport.

“The visibility at Sultan Thaha is 2,500 meters at the moment due to the thick haze,” he said.

Meanwhile, in South Sumatra, the visibility since 9 a.m. has been 700 meters and no aircraft has landed at Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport as of 2 p.m.

He said, however, two planes belonging to Garuda Indonesia and Lion Air took off successfully from Palembang to Jakarta in the morning.

Separately, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that 153 hot spots were found across Sumatra, with 144 of them in South Sumatra, while the rest were in Riau, Jambi and Aceh.

Sutopo said, however, that the haze would not reach Singapore since the speed of the Southwest winds was between 5 and 15 knots


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