Haze Delays Flights to Pekanbaru

Pekanbaru (Antara Bali) - A flight of Silk Air plane from Singapore to Pekanbaru was delayed on Wednesday morning as thick haze blanketed Sultan Syarif Kasim II airport on Wednesday morning.

"The airplane is scheduled to arrive at the airport from Singapore at 8 a.m but it is delayed as visibility is only 800 meters," Airport Duty Manager Ibnu Hasan said on Wednesday.

The flight of an airplane of the Sky Aviation serving the Malaka-Pekanbaru route was also delayed due to the haze. It should have landed at 8.55 a.m, yet up to 9.12 a.m the aircraft has not yet arrived.

Ibnu said that besides flights on the international routes, the haze also disturbed domestic flight schedules.  

A Garuda Indonesia flight from Jakarta to Pekanbaru should have arrived at 7.50 am, but it was delayed until further notification.

Lion Air also delayed its flight from Jakarta to Pekanbaru. The plane was scheduled to land at 7.55 a.m but it was also delayed until further information.

The same thing also happened with Lion Air flight from Batam to Pekanbaru. "The Batam-Pekanbaru flight is canceled," Ibnu Hasan said.

In the meantime, the number of hotspots of forest, plantation and peatland fires in Riau Province on Wednesday morning was 256, double from 126 on the previous day.

Of 281 hotspots detected across Sumatra Island, 256 were found in Riau province,  Slamet Riyadi, the head of the Pekanbaru meteorological, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG)'s data and information section, said.

The data was based on the recording on Wednesday at 7 am local time, he added. Of the 256 hotspots in Riau, 94 were detected in Bengkalis district, 32 in Meranti, 26 in Indragiri Hilir, 34 in Pelalawan, 52 in Siak, 10 in Rokan Hilir, 7 in Dumai, and one in Kampar.

He predicted that the number of hotspots in Riau will still be high until one week to come because of lack of rains. Hotspots in forests, plantations and peatland fires, which came early on Sumatra and Kalimantan islands this year, have caused the Indonesian government to intensify law enforcement to deal with the problem. (*/DWA)