Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and several other major aviation hubs in Indonesia have resumed operations after being closed for several days due to volcanic ash affecting the country’s airspace.
Indonesia’s Transport Ministry said the main airport serving the capital, along with four other airports on Java, reopened on Tuesday after flight safety conditions improved.
The disruption began following the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau, about 150 kilometres from Jakarta, on Saturday. The eruption sent lava and volcanic ash into the air, forcing eight airports to suspend operations over the weekend.
Nearly 3,000 flights were disrupted, leaving more than 340,000 passengers stranded as volcanic ash contaminated parts of the airspace.
Soekarno-Hatta airport management confirmed on social media that flight operations had resumed following the latest monitoring of Mount Anak Krakatau’s activity.
The airport closures had previously been extended several times as volcanic ash continued to pose a risk to aviation.
Other airports that have reopened include Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta, which handles both civilian and military flights, and Husein Sastranegara Airport in Bandung, the capital of West Java.
A smaller airport in southern Sumatra also resumed operations on Monday, while two of the eight airports affected by the eruption remained closed.
Despite the reopening, airlines now face the major challenge of handling thousands of stranded passengers and reorganising flights after several days of disruption.
Singapore Airlines reportedly cancelled 18 flights on Monday, while another flight from Jakarta early Tuesday was also cancelled.
The airline also rescheduled six Tuesday morning flights, pushing their departure times to the afternoon to ease operational congestion.
At Soekarno-Hatta alone, more than 240 domestic and international flights were cancelled or delayed on Monday morning, affecting nearly 30,000 passengers.
To help ease the disruption, the Transport Ministry prepared six alternative airports for aircraft originally scheduled to land in Jakarta.
Mount Anak Krakatau, meaning “Child of Krakatau”, is located in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra.
The volcano emerged from the seabed in the early 20th century within the caldera created by the massive eruption of Mount Krakatau in 1883.
In 2018, part of Anak Krakatau’s structure collapsed, triggering a tsunami that killed 429 people and left thousands homeless.
