19 Flights Cancelled at Batam Airport Due to Haze

Batam, Riau Islands (Antara Bali) - A total of 10 flights going to the Hang Nadim International Airport and nine others departing from the airport were cancelled on Saturday due to the thick haze shrouding Sumatra.

Based on the monitor for the flight schedule at the Batam airport, the flights going to Batam, which were cancelled are Lion Air JT 964 from Bengkulu, Lion JT 236 from Pekanbaru, Nam Air IN 9035 from Medan and Lion Air from Padang, Citilink from Pekambaru.

Others included a Citilink flight from Surabaya, Lion Air's flight from Pekanbaru, Lion Air's flight from Padang, Lion Air's flight from Jakarta and Citilinks flight from Padang.

The cancelled flights from Batam included Lion Air JT 827 to Padang, Citilink's flight to Pekanbaru, Lion Air's flight to Pekanbaru, Citilink's flight to Padang, Citilink's flight to Surabaya, Sriwijaya's flight to Jakarta, Lion Air's flight to Jambi, Lion Air's flight to Palembang, and Lion Air's flight to Jakarta.

Hang Nadim Airport's Public Relations Chief, Suwarso said the cancellation of the flights was due to the thick smoke emanating from the island, which has obstructed visibility.

"We cancelled all the flights going to Pekanbaru, Medan and Jambi because the destinations were blanketed with haze. Actually, for Batam alone, there is no problem because it is still safe for aviation," he said.

He hoped that the haze shrouding Sumatra would reduce soon and that the flight schedule would also return to normal.

"This condition has resulted in us losing hundreds of millions of Rupiah due to flight cancellations," he added.  (WDY)