The eruption of the Anak Krakatau volcano has been severely disrupting air traffic in Indonesia since Sunday 6th September. Admittedly, the volcano's activity ceased on Sunday evening. Nevertheless, the release of lava into the atmosphere forced the authorities to temporarily suspend traffic at seven airports in the region this Monday.
Which translates, according to the latest estimates from the Ministry of Transport, to some 2,300 cancelled flights, including over a hundred international routes, and some 271,000 passengers stranded in airports across the entire country. Not to mention travellers stuck abroad at transit airports as major as Singapore or Dubai.
The worst is the suspension of flights at Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta international airport, the main entry point into the country. The closure of the domestic airport in Bandung, the capital of West Java – a city of 2.5 million inhabitants – as well as an airport in southern Sumatra, has also been reported.
Three diversion airports
In the face of these disruptions, the government has prepared three alternative airports in order to maintain air links as much as possible. However, these are of relatively little use for international routes coming from the western hemisphere, as flying over Sumatra and the western part of Java is practically a route with no alternative.
Nevertheless, Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi has designated Kertajati in West Java as well as the airports of Semarang (Central Java) and Surabaya (East Java) as alternative hubs.
Airlines are authorised to divert their flights there, subject to operational and safety conditions. In particular, these facilities must make it possible to maintain domestic connections from the other islands as well as certain international connections, notably for passengers travelling to Jakarta.
The authorities have furthermore announced a full refund for passengers whose flights were cancelled due to airport closures linked to volcanic ash.
The ministry advises travellers to check their flight with their airline before heading to the airport, as the situation may change depending on volcanic activity and ash dispersion. For experts do not rule out a resumption of the volcano's activity in the coming days...
