Flight Delays And Cancellations Continue At Haze-Affected Airports

Jakarta (Antara Bali)- Haze arising from forest and plantation fires continued to cause flight delays and cancellations on Tuesday, according to the transportation ministry.

At Sultan Thaha Airport in Jambi Province, five airlines canceled the departures of their flights, the ministry's spokesman, J.A. Barata, noted in a press statement.

The airlines are NAM Air, Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air, Sriwijaya Air, and Citilink.

Garuda Indonesia, Sriwijaya Air, Lion Air, and Citilink have announced that they would stop flights to and from Jambi until September 10.

At Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru, Riau Province, some flights were delayed on Tuesday morning as haze had reduced visibility to 500 meters.

The smog arising from forest fires also affected airports located in Pakangkaraya, Pangkalan Bun, Melak, Lombok, Palembang, Berau, Pontianak, Pekanbaru, Banjarmasin, Ketapang, Malinau, Putusibau, Muara Teweh, Sintang, and Wong Apung, among others.

On the previous day, the Transportation Ministry reported that 16 airports on Sumatra and Kalimantan Islands had been affected by the smog due to forest fires shrouding the region for the past week.

"Visibility has been reduced to below 800 meters, preventing any aircraft from landing," Barata noted in a statement on Monday.

Forest fires producing smog have flared up on the islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, and Sulawesi during the current El Nino-induced drought.  
The smog has caused several flight delays and cancellations at 16 airports, he added. (WDY)