Indonesia cancels flights at Jakarta airport and elsewhere as Anak Krakatau erupts

Anak Krakatau erupted before dawn on Sunday, sending ash across western Indonesia and grounding flights at Jakarta’s main airport and several other airports. The volcanic island in the Sunda Strait had shown signs of activity since Friday before erupting for 30 seconds at 3:53 a.m.

Closed-circuit footage showed lava flares from the volcano. No casualties were reported, and authorities issued no evacuation order. The nearest settlement lies more than 16 kilometers away, but officials told residents and visitors to remain at least 3 kilometers from the active crater.

Ash spread across parts of Jakarta and Lampung province on Sumatra’s southern tip. AirNav Indonesia closed airspace around Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta and Halim Perdanakusuma airports, as well as four other airports, including Radin Inten II in Lampung.

By mid-afternoon, the closures had affected 516 flight movements. Soekarno-Hatta accounted for 202 of them, affecting about 22,800 passengers. The airport was ordered to remain closed until at least 5:30 p.m. Services were also disrupted at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport and in Medan.

Two ash clouds were identified through satellite imagery by Indonesia’s volcanology agency and the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre. One plume rose to 20,000 feet and drifted northeast over Jakarta, Banten, West Java and nearby waters. A second reached 50,000 feet and spread over Banten, Lampung and Bengkulu, the southern Sunda Strait and parts of the Indian Ocean west of Sumatra. “Safety remains our top priority in every operational decision,” civil aviation director general Lukman F. Laisa said, warning that disruptions could cascade through aircraft rotations, fleet availability and terminal capacity.

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Safety remains our top priority in every operational decision.